Always Watch Your Back
by TheColdNeverBotheredMeAnyways
Summary: In the year 2138, chaos and fear is an accepted part of life. Elsa had been trained her whole life to be able to protect herself and her sister from the horrors of this world. Jack was a man with a secret that could cost his life if discovered. When their paths intertwine, an unlikely alliance forms that could be there only way to survive. AU, Original story line, Dystopia, Jelsa
1. My Story

**AN: Okay, so I lied. I've been working on this story a lot because ideas keep hitting me and I'm constantly thinking about this AU, and I'm not quite sure why, but I'll assume that yall understand! Anyways, I want to put the intro into this story out, see what yall think, and go from there! It's much more mature in the storyline and content, and is dystopian, and is Jelsa! Set in the future (duh) and Jack is a few years older than Elsa. All of North America has been transformed into Duras, which was the doing of America. But anyways… I'll let yall figure the rest(:**

**BTW: Any talk of the government isn't a personal opinion or where I think the world is going or blah blah blah, for yall that read a little too into it. It's simply serves a storytelling purpose to further the plot and all of that.**

I woke up to sunlight streaming through the threadbare curtains on my grimy window. I looked at the somewhat broken digital calendar/clock I found in the dump close to my house. It showed the date, but not the time. But I didn't mind, it still sort of worked, and it was more than what I had before. The calendar read December 19th, 2138.

It was two days until my birthday. My big 21, which was on the 21st too. Too bad it really held no significance anymore. If I was in a bit more of an orthodox situation then I would probably be excited since I could legally drink and things like that. But since literally no one paid attention to that law anymore (even the cops) I wasn't planning on treating that day any different than any other day.

The only person that was excited was Anna. She insisted that it was a big deal and held for celebration. But that was Anna. She got excited over the smallest things. One time she made this guy she knew in school the "Official Ice Master and Deliverer" because he brought her an ice cube. But she was young.

Anyways, I didn't know what the celebration was going to be, and what money it was going to be bought with. We were barely getting along. Honestly the only reason we'd survived this long was thanks to my dad. If he hadn't trained me, then we would've been robbed or worse, kidnapped and sold to the GEDO, the Government Experimentation and Development Organization. That was one place I was determined to keep Anna and I away from.

I signed and got up, running my hands through my long blonde-almost-white hair, trying to pull out the tangles. I pushed back my blanket and put on my usual outfit that I had folded neatly in the corner. Some tight but comfortable Nike pants I had traded for that were in excellent condition, which is one of my best deals to this day. They were hard to find in such good condition these days, when you were the social class I was. I slipped on my combat boots, tank top, and hoodie over that. Comfortable, casual, neat, and most importantly, flexible and sturdy material in case I had to fight.

You never knew who or what was hiding in an alleyway.

I walked over to the one small bathroom that Anna and I shared. I didn't mind though. We never had to wait on each other, we knew how to get in, do what we needed to do, and get out. And that didn't just regard to the bathroom. It was our lifestyle.

I braided my hair back in a French braid, and rinsed my face off. I picked up my purple eyeliner that I wore religiously and made a thin line above my thick, dark eyelashes. It was the only makeup I wore, and I wore it because it complemented my bright blue eyes, but I mostly just wore it because it reminded me of a time when my family was together, and we weren't living in poverty.

When my parents were alive, my dad had a good job in the government, which is saying more than it used to. We had a huge house, with the nicest stuff. We lived pretty close to royalty, as did other government workers and their families. But along with money, the government gave us top of the line protection. If I were to guess by the number of body guards and security systems we had, my dad was pretty high up in his job. I never knew what he did; he wasn't allowed to tell us. He was technically sworn into total secrecy, but he told us a lot anyways.

He told me most of the history about where we lived, since it wasn't taught in school. Or the truth wasn't taught in school anyways. For the few kids that could even afford school.

Ever since the government took more control of the United States, and then took over all of North America, everyone had lived in fear. Everyone was scared because of all the wars that were going on, since obviously other countries didn't want to be taken over. Somehow they did it, but my guess is that they didn't fight fair. Anyways, the country kind of looks like a patchwork quilt now. Some places are in total ruins, some are livable, but not the best condition, and other places (like New York, or Chicago) are still in almost the exact same condition as they were before. But no matter where you lived, everyone was afraid. The fear only heightened when they started the GEDO.

The GEDO was what everyone was scared of, regardless of whatever your social status was. It started shortly after America started taking over Canada, the second country they took over. They began by using prisoners that were sentenced for the death penalty, and experimenting on them, but then they started taking anyone that was eligible, willing or not. Prisoners, the homeless, the elderly, and people that got sold to them. At first they were just trying to heighten our natural abilities, such as eyesight, hearing, strength, endurance, etc. But then they started trying to mix our DNA with animals, creating hybrids and mutants. They tried to regrow lost limbs, grow new limbs, cure diseases, accidentally make new and worse diseases. Who knew what they were doing now. All anyone knew was that if you were taken or sold to GEDO (you could get a lot of money for bringing in healthy "specimen" as they called it: men and women, and even children, that were healthy and the top in their abilities) you never came back.

Anyways, my dad told us all about the GEDO, how and when we were planning to invade and take over other countries. Well, he told my mom. He told me later on when I was older.

My dad told us everything, except for his job. I don't know what exactly his job was in the government; my mom didn't know either. But he told us everything else. He told us that something big was happening. That was why he started training me. So I could protect myself and Anna. He would've trained Anna too, if it weren't for the accident. The accident I caused.

But almost as soon as I could walk, he started training me. He taught me several different languages besides English: Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, Mandarin, Chinese, and some Polish and Arabic. It was a lot, but I was fluent in almost all of them.

Part of my dad's old mysterious job required him to travel a lot, and he was really good with people. They always seemed to listen and do what he said. He had almost a regal aura about him. So when he traveled he said he learned as much as he could about the different cultures.

Along with learning different languages and the history of the country, he taught me how to fight. He called me a prodigy, because of how quickly I picked up the skill. He taught me hand to hand combat, and many different styles of it. I know Kung fu, Kuntao, Sanshou, Jujitsu, Karate, and Kyudo. He taught me how do fight with a sword, but mainly the basics since it isn't a popular method of fighting. He taught me archery, how to shoot a gun, knife throwing, and wilderness survival.

He taught me how to be charismatic and charming, and my mom taught me how to be extremely lady like. She insisted that if he could teach me how to shoot a target while wearing a blindfold, then she could teach me how to hold a tea cup properly and which fork to use to eat a salad (the closest one to the dinner plate).

So basically you could sit me down at the queen's table or in the middle of the woods and I'd survive either one.

My dad would've taught Anna all this too if it wasn't for me and the accident I caused. So my mom just taught her all the ladylike things, despite Anna's clumsiness. Anna knew the basics, my dad at least taught her some hand to hand combat, and how to shoot a gun, but only the bare minimal.

He didn't really let her do anything, and it was our unspoken agreement for me to never let anything happen to her again.

Not since I shot her. I didn't mean to! It was a total accident. One night I snuck out to practice shooting in the empty warehouse behind our house where my dad used to train me at, and Anna followed me. I was showing off and accidentally shot her, in the head. Luckily she tripped at that moment(that child was the clumsiest person in the world) and it only grazed her forehead.

When we took her to the doctor (who claimed to be a witch doctor but it didn't really matter since he was genius and knew exactly what he was doing) he confirmed that it only grazed her, and between the medication and a sort of post-traumatic stress made her forget the whole incident. When the doctor asked what happened we just said she got caught at the wrong place at the wrong time. That was the story Anna believed too. But my parents and I knew the real one.

After that, Anna wasn't allowed with me alone, and she couldn't come watch my training sessions anymore. We'd grown sort of distant compared to how close we were before, but I just kept telling myself that it was for her own good. It was to protect her.

A knock on the bathroom door shook me out of my reminiscing.

"Elsa?" Anna asked, and it pulled me into another memory. Me hiding in my room from Anna thinking I was a monster, and her trying to get me to come out. She even tried singing to me.

I shook my head side to side, and set my eyeliner down. I opened the door and smiled. We'd grown closer since my parent's death, but I still didn't let her near me when I was training. I did that alone now.

"Yeah?" I brushed past her into the kitchen/living room/dining room we had. I was careful not to touch her, as always. It wasn't because of my lack of sentimentality; I just was still scared to hurt the most important thing to me.

"Oh, just wondering what was taking you so long! I mean usually you're in and out! Anyways, just wondering!" She smiled that big, adorable smile she had. She was 18, but half the time she acted like she was eight. It didn't bother me though, it just somehow made her more endearing.

She was carrying that stuffed snowman toy that she'd had since she was a child. Olaf. That was his name. I used to take it and make it talk to her and say "I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs!" when I wanted her to play with me. I hadn't done that in a long time.

I smiled at her pulled an apple out of the mini-fridge we had. "I just got distracted, that's all." I crunched into the apple.

We both flinched when gunshots cracked fairly close to our apartment. Anna quickly ran over to me and held my arm, while I reached into the cabinet and pulled out my Colt 1911 that was already loaded. Most of my weapons were secured in my truck that I paid extra to hide in the warehouse (different one from where my dad trained me) that was right behind the apartment complex. The owner kept it safe as long as I paid him, and neither of us had broken our promise yet.


	2. Routines

**Okay thank yall for the encouragement! I've been wanting to start this story for awhile! Its really fun to write and I hope yall like reading it! But anyways it is inspired by the Divergent series, but it really isn't like it much besides the fact its dystopian and a few other minor details. But anyways, here's the next chapter! Reviews? (:**

But I kept a few hidden in the apartment for reasons like this. "Anna, hide." We'd been over this, we had a set drill. I grabbed a weapon and waited and she hid in a cabinet. She only came out when I said, "Olaf says all clear." Just in case (but a totally slim chance) that I was overpowered and they forced me to get her out. If I said anything else there was a gun in there, and she game out guns blazing. No pun intended. She hadn't shot much; my dad was too scared to let her. But she knew enough. And we were prepared for anything.

I released the safety, depressed the grip safety, and cocked the hammer. I grabbed one of my throwing knives and held it in my right hand. I aimed my left at the door, completely comfortable in my stance. I'd been shooting since I was 6. I had graduated from proper-two-hands-on-the-gun-body-square-deep-breath technique long ago.

I tossed the knife up and caught it without looking; I was so comfortable with it in my hand. But I made sure to keep my eye trained on the door. If it opened, I was shooting, no exceptions.

I waited, trying to swallow the tears that were threatening to break through. They were encouraged by the screams of terror and pain coming outside the door. I wanted nothing more than to burst out and help whoever was out there, but I knew I couldn't. That meant putting a target on my back, therefore putting Anna's life in danger. And Anna came first.

A tear slipped down, and I wiped it away with my sleeve quickly. I acted like a badass, but I wasn't tough inside. I wanted to break down all the time, but I knew I couldn't.

Come on Elsa, suck it up. Conceal, don't feel. I wiped emotion from my face, and willed my focus back to the door.

My dad gave me that phrase. When he trained me, when I saw the horrors this world has for us, when he told my mom and I of those horrors, he told me: "Conceal, don't feel. Don't let it show, Elsa. If you show them how weak you are, all of this training is moot. Don't let anything get to you, just fuel whatever motions you have to a calm rage, and use that against them."

At that point, I did exactly what he told me to. I took all my fear, uncertainty, rage, disgust, and sadness and pounded the crap out my punching bag, or shot bullets or threw knives at my target until I had no energy left. The result was usually a destroyed target or dummy, and a very proud father.

Eventually I learned to turn my emotions on and off, like a good machine. My father never taught me that, but he encouraged it without knowing it. Conceal, don't feel. Don't let it show. It was extremely useful; it made me deadly as an opponent, but reliable so that I wouldn't act out of rage and cause an accident. Or another one at least.

I stood waiting for our door to open long after the gun shots and the muffled crying stopped. I shifted from foot to foot, on the balls on my feet, muscles taunt, not tired. Training and running miles before the break of dawn kept me in excellent shape.

Only when I was positive that it was clear, I murmured, "Olaf says all clear." Anna climbed out slowly, Olaf in one hand and the pistol in the other. The safety was still on, which was a relief since she was carelessly slinging it around.

She stood up in slow motion, half of due to stiffness and the other half fear. No matter how many times this happened it didn't make it any less scary or any easier. It was something no one could get used to.

I walked over and slowly pried the gun from her fingers, one at a time, and put it back in the cabinet. She let me with no resistance. We kept the cabinet empty just for this purpose. It had a full water bottle, nonperishable food items, and it locked from the inside. Pretty decent hideout, considering our current state.

I led her over to our shaggy couch, and got her a glass of water. Anna was always shaken up like this after a possible attack. I couldn't blame her. I was too. But, like always, I shut off my emotions and just focused on Anna. I stored my fear away for a time that I needed it.

I sat on the couch next to her, looking around our apartment. A stove and a few feet of cabinet space with the mini fridge and some cabinets above it pretty much summed up our kitchen. The rest of the room had a table shoved up in the corner, with two chairs tucked underneath. The front door was in between the end of the counters and the table. Against the other wall was the loveseat couch we were both sitting on. The living room/dining room/ kitchen turned a sharp left into the hallway that led to our one bathroom and one bedroom.

Before the war this place would've been a good place for a couple, or just one person to live. It wasn't a bad apartment, it was just worn down. The walls were gray, the door was gray, the floors were gray and featuring dirt. It was like I was stuck in one of those black and white movies my dad told me they used to have years ago.

I looked around and thought of the potential in this place before getting up. I secretly wanted to be an architect, but to be one you had to go to college, and most architect jobs, like most prestige and well-paying jobs, were owned by the government. And I would never get a job with them after what they did to my parents.

I stepped out the door and closed it, pausing to make sure that Anna locked it behind me. When I heard all the locks click, I jogged to work. It was cold, since it was mid-December, and I only had a hoodie on. But I was fine. I had given the good coat I found to Anna, so she'd be warm. Besides, the cold never bothered me anyways.

**I hope yall like it! And it'll get more interesting soon! I promise! (:**


	3. My Job

**Thank yall for the encouragement! And don't worry, everything will be explained! (: but heres the next chapter, hope yall like it!(:**

The rest of the day went by in a blur. I reluctantly left Anna to go to my job (I worked at one of the few remaining successful grocery stores in our area, and I was one of the bodyguards) and got paid (they paid us daily, since no one really knew when they were going to come back) and I went home. One of the few benefits of my job is that it was fairly close, only two miles from our apartment, and I was allowed to carry as many concealed weapons as I could carry. I held two small pistols in these secret pockets in my hoodie, and multiple knives. Some in my boots, one in my sleeve, another in a different secret pocket in my hoodie. I would have loved to carry a bow, but they were supposed to be inconspicuous weapons, so that was a definite no.

I was the only girl working as a security guard, and at first none of the guys took me seriously. They were big, bulky, and had multiple scars. Even my boss first laughed at me when I applied.

"What's a pretty little girl like you gonna do? Charm them away? Nah, go find a job as a stripper. A girl like you could make some big bucks." He took another drag of his cigar and gave me a sad smile.

Knowing him as I do now, I know he's a good guy, and didn't make that remark as a sexist, lustful pig as most guys would. He genuinely thought it was a better path. And if I was a different girl it might have been.

"Let me fight one of your guys then. Any one of them. You pick. No weapons, and if I beat him, I get the job. Do we have a deal, Amos?" I crossed my arms, giving him a look I adopted from my dad. One that gave the impression that I was in charge, one that made most people give me what I wanted. My family called it my queen look, and called me "You Highness" when I used it unknowingly on them.

He laughed, then stopped when he noticed I wasn't joining in. I hardened my look from regal queen to badass chick that was ready to beat you up.

"You really wanna do this?" Amos held his cigar between his fingers, letting out smoke as he spoke. It blew in my face, but I held my ground and didn't try to fan the smoke away. I nodded, and he sighed. He turned and motioned for me to follow, while mumbling something about too many broken ribs in his day.

He'd been talking about me, but I smirked because I intended to give the guy I fought them instead.

We walked into the break room, and he made the announcement to the guys on break. As I expected, they laughed. I gave them my stare while Amos assured them I was serious.

"I'm not going to pick the guy, you get to volunteer." They seemed reluctant, until I taunted, "Wow, some security guards. They're too scared to take on a girl."

I smirked as one of them stood up, a guy probably in his late twenties, with a scar running from the corner of his eye to the corner of his mouth on the right side. He had close cropped dark brown hair, with dark eyes to match.

"Fine, I'll do it. Show this bitch some respect." Some of the other guys looked at little uneasy, while some others laughed. But my smirk only widened. I stored the anger from his last remark away.

"Alright, you two in the back then. There's more space. Ben, Gabe, come guard. The rest of you, all off break. If anyone hears a fight going on there could be trouble." Amos flicked his hand and everyone moved to fulfill the command. I followed Amos and the guy who challenged me to the back.

Once there, I took off my hoodie, and we both took all our weapons out. We set them down on the floor in the corner. I noticed the two other guards, Ben and Gabe, making bets.

"Alright, let's get this over with." Amos sounded like he didn't want this to happen.

The whole fight was over in two minutes. My opponent, Achan, was strong, but was about all. I turned my emotions on, and motioned him to come over with my finger. It probably could have been considered flirty, if we weren't in the position we were in.

He ran at me swinging, but I easily side stepped and turned and kicked, my heel clipping his temple. I was careful where I hit though, I needed to beat him, not kill him. While he was stunned, he only stumbled, so I flipped, wrapping my legs around his neck in the process and slamming him down. I twisted, so that he ended up taking the whole force of the impact, and I was lying on top of him. I sat up so I was on top of him, and jabbed my finger into his collarbone, making him jerk sideways. I flipped him over and wrapped my arm around his neck and pushed my forearm to the side of his throat, right where the pulse was, slowly cutting off his circulation.

His hand that wasn't trapped underneath his body tried to reach and hit me, but I grabbed his elbow and dug my thumb right in his pressure point. His arm went limp and he was gasping for breath.

"You surrender?" I asked, barely out of breath. He tried talking, but it only came out as a wheeze.

I let him go, while saying, "I'll take that as a yes." I stood up, brushed the dirt off of me, and calmly walked over to my things.

Gabe and Ben looked at me like I was an alien. I walked over, and asked them, "So who won the bet?" They suddenly looked at each other, and Gabe looked Ben before looking back at me and said, "Uh, no one. We bet on times. Not… not you winning."

I sighed, and said, "Well, teaches you guys to be so cocky. And such asses." I was about to walk over to Amos and ask him when I started, when I heard "I didn't say yes," behind me.

I turned to see Achan using the side of the building to get up, panting hard. His fists were clenched and his body language read "I'm pissed," but his eyes were wary. I didn't have the element of surprise anymore.

He motioned toward me, but I slid the knife hiding in my sleeve out and threw it with accurate aim. It snagged his shirt, and the blade sank into the wood he was leaning against, trapping his shirt (loosely) to the wood. He looked so stunned, he didn't even try to pull the knife out.

I walked over there quickly and grabbed the hilt of the knife and pressed the blade against his throat.

"Now do you surrender?" I wasn't joking anymore. His comment earlier and him still being a jerk after I clearly beat him wasn't the kind of humor or sportsmanship I was into. Besides, I just wanted to get this over with and get the job.

His eyes weren't wary anymore, they were plain terrified. He made no move to try and move the knife, or me away from him. But then, he blinked, and his eyes changed from terrified to admiration. He slowly smiled.

"You are amazing." He was staring into my eyes, and I stepped back from confusion. It wasn't the response I was expecting.

"Flattery won't get you anywhere." I slipped the knife back in my hoodie and turned to Amos. I shook of his comment, and said, "Now, when do I start?"

Amos looked warily at the sleeve my knife disappeared into. Then he looked at me and smiled too. "Now! Come on, Gabe, Ben, Achan, let's show her around!"

They showed me how to work the ropes and what exactly they did in about an hour. By the end of the hour, I got a very sincere and overdone apology from Achan, the story about me completely besting Achan spread to all the guards, and I gained the respect of everyone.

That was about a year ago. By now, I was friends with all of them, but like everyone else, I kept that friendship at a safe distance.

By now I had given all of the guys a lesson at fighting, since they were mostly just muscle. They were like bulls. They could charge pretty hard, but the matador won because he was smarter and quicker.

The only reason none of the muggers had succeeded in actually mugging the store was because they had so many bodyguards. But after a few lessons, they picked it up pretty quick. Nowhere near as good as me (not to be cocky), but still pretty good.

I also had to reject Achan multiple times in the past year. I didn't know why he didn't seem to listen the first few times, but it seemed like a pointless circle.

It seemed that the way to a man's heart was not his stomach, it was kicking his ass.

**Review what you thought?(: always good to hear feedback! And btw, Jack is coming, just in a few more chapters! Just makin sure yall know I didn't forget about him!**


	4. The President's Announcement

"Anna, I'm home-" I paused when I saw her asleep on the couch. I looked at her, at little angry for not guarding the house and a little jealous for being able to sleep so easily. I hadn't had a good nap or good night's sleep since our parents died.

I walked into the kitchen, grabbed some food, ate quickly, and then did my nightly check. I had already checked the warehouse to make sure the truck and all the weapons were secure, and to pay the man that ran the warehouse.

I made sure all the doors were locked (we had two doors, and about 10 locks on each door) and that the windows were barred and the furniture was placed strategically in front of them. I got Anna in our bed, and took a quick shower. I checked all the locks again before falling into my regular dreamless and restless sleep.

I woke up to darkness, as I always did on even days. My dad told me that there was a time, when America was still America, that they named there days. There were seven, and that was how they kept track. It seemed like a smart idea, but somewhere along the way the system broke. I didn't know anyone who still used it, or really who knew about. Or didn't talk if they did.

No one talked about what it was like before everything happened. The stories my dad did tell were in whispers with the lights off. As if the light revealed us, and put us in danger. Which knowing all I know now, could be true.

I put on my running outfit, and slipped a gun in my shorts, double checking that the safety was on. All I needed was to shoot myself in the leg while I ran.

I braided my hair back, and was out. I ran about a mile or so away from the apartment, and ran along this long, wide abandoned path. It had mile markers on it, which is why I used it. It was smooth, contrasting to the gravel paths we had. It also had these funny yellow dashes along it, and there purpose was a mystery to me.

I didn't know what the path was used for, but multiple times I had wanted to just impulsively take my truck and just gun it 300 mph down the road, to see where it led. But there were many reasons I couldn't do that.

I ran two miles out, then the two miles back and the last half mile I took a cool down.

I showered quickly after I was safely inside and the door was locked once again, and I got dressed, re-fixed my hair and ate.

The sun had just finished rising when Anna stumbled in. I smirked as she stubbed her toe on the couch, barely seeming to notice. She was like that in the morning. She was basically still asleep, and her hair was the definition of crazy.

She grabbed a banana off the counter and sat down at our table and started peeling zombie-like, when the radio that was installed in the side of the window crackled to life.

We both jumped, and I was alert. I already had a knife in my hand. The radio never came on. I didn't even think that it worked anymore. Anna and I had tested it when we first moved in.

But that wasn't the strangest part. Anna and I hadn't touched it.

Despite the creepy factor of no one touching it, I was starting to get annoyed with the white noise it was making. I was about to just shoot it to get it to turn it off, when a voice came out of it.

"Hello, citizens of Duras. This is your -ah- president speaking." At that, Anna and I looked at each other with our eyebrows raised.

Who knew we still had a president? All we knew was stay away from the government. That was the extent of pretty much everyone's knowledge. But it made sense we still had a president. Well, it did and it didn't.

"As you know, the world we currently preside in isn't in the most impressive or renowned state. It's a world of chaos and uncertainty. It is a world that my fellow officials and I are working hard to fix, and to rebuild for the better. And one way, is to experiment.

All of the top scientists of Duras have come to a unanimous vote that the best way to rebuild our world is with the best and brightest characters. Citizens who can survive against all odds, withstand all trials and tribulations thrown at them. Which is why we have come up with an experiment along those lines, to weed out the weak, so we can move forward with the strong. Think of this as our take and trail of Charles Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection, for the better.

All citizens over the age of 27 will be removed from the country/continent of Duras. All technology excluding plumbing and means of transportation, such as trains, boats, cars if you own or can find one, will no longer work. Any and all means of transportation will also run without the need of constant refilling of fuel. This experiment will last for three years. Any attempt to leave the continent during the period of this experiment will result in immediate death as a punishment. All crime is legal during this experiment, and there is only one goal throughout this whole project: survive.

You have exactly 24 hours, meaning that the experiment will start at exactly 8:15 a.m. tomorrow morning, to prepare. If any laws already in place are broken, such as robbery, murder, et cetera, _during_ this 24 hour prep period, then immediate death will be your punishment. But after 8:15 a.m. on the winter solstice…" He trailed off, but we got the message. After 8:15 a.m., crime would not exist, because there would be no such things as laws.

"All survivors at the end of this experiment will be taken to be fully treated from any wounds or casualties caused, and will help by being the key to our bright future.

Oh, and by the way, all persons experimented on by the Government Experimentation and Development Organization will be released. My advice would be to stay away from them." I could hear the smile in his voice. The kind of smile that's encouraged by death and torment of the innocent. Who would vote for him?

"I wish the best to you all. That will be it." But before the President could even finish his sentence, I had fired at the radio.

**Hey thank you everyone for the reviews! Keep it up, it's really helpful!(: But hope yall enjoy it so far, and Jack will be coming in a few more chapters, don't worry! Also sorry for the short chapter, the next few ones will be much longer!**

**This is going to be a plenty long story, so trust me, there will be a LOT of Jelsa moments(:**

**But favorite, follow, review, all that good stuff. Love yall!(:**


	5. The Gloves

**Soo I've just been writing all day, two chapters one day *thank you summer* hope yall are liking it so far!(: and i didn't realize it lol i guess it is kind of like the purge! a very very long purge! and thank you everyone else for the encouraging reviews! they help a lot (as a lot of you probably know!)**

** and btw don't know if this helps or if it's just like a general statement or whatever but I imagine Elsa (skill-wise) as like a Katniss (Hunger Games) meets Katsa (Graceling) meets Black Widow (if you don't know her you have problems I cannot help you with). But like emotionally i see her the same as a scared girl who just loves and wants to protect her sister and all that from the movie! idk if that helps anything but i can't say that in the story since it's Elsa's POV. anyways... on to the story! (:**

I stood there for a good thirty minutes after I heard the announcement. Anna ran around screaming about how it was a dream, how crazy that was, about how maybe that was an old message from years ago that just somehow magically played. Trying to convince herself.

While I wish what Anna was saying was true, I knew deep down that it wasn't. The government and their prestige "scientists" weren't above putting people through this. Just to come out with a few people who were good at hiding.

After I got over my shock, I locked it away, repeated in my head, _Conceal, don't feel, don't let it show_, and returned to my normal state of icy indifference. So what if I was about to go through a three year period, all the while losing the last small sense of security I might have had. No big deal. Whatever.

I took that moment and made a split decision. "Anna, hide in the cabinet until I get back, okay?" I said it with confidence, but inside I was that girl crying in the corner of my room, feeling helpless.

Anna stopped talking and pacing around and just looked at me, like I spoke in a different language (which she really didn't like since she only knew Spanish and French).

"Elsa, what-?" I walked over and grabbed her shoulders and looked her square in the eye, and said in a completely even tone, "Get in the cabinet and hide. I'm trying to protect you."

Something must have convinced her, because she actually listened. Based on past experience, she would have fought with me for a few more minutes until begrudgingly getting into the cabinet.

"No getting out until you hear the saying. Even if the doors open and close. Like usual." I waited until she crawled in and locked the cabinet, then I sprinted out the door and to the grocery store where I worked. It wasn't my shift that day, but I needed to talk to someone who wasn't in the apartment. To make sure someone else heard it and I wasn't going crazy.

I got to the store and made my way towards the back, and burst open the door to the break room. I was shocked to find almost all the guards in there.

"The announcement… I… what… how… the hell?!" I was trying to make a sentence, but I was so out of breath from sprinting all the way over. It was like, 2 miles. Who wouldn't be out of breath after sprinting that?

But I only got a bunch of sad, blank stares to greet my eyes when I looked around the room. They didn't need to explain. They knew me well enough by now. I was smart. I figured it out. I just needed conformation that everyone else had too.

"Well then…" I spun on my heel and started to walked out the door, when a hand grabbed my arm.

I spun and had a knife to his throat before I even saw who it was. Achan. Of course. He backed up and put his hands up, surrendering.

I lowered the knife, and then hissed, "You know better than to touch me."

He just looked at me with his dark eyes. "Let me come with you."

I looked at him, thinking that he'd lost his mind. "Come with me? Who even said I was leaving?"

Then a few of the guys laughed, but Achan held my gaze. "We know you well enough, despite your holding back. Yeah, you are." He said reading my expression. Then his gaze softened. "Come on, it's smarter to travel with numbers, considering the stakes. Its three years. Three… years. All crime legal, experiments released…" He trailed off, but everyone finished the sentence. The survival chance didn't look very good. Even with all my skills, it would be so easy to be shot from a distance, or jumped at any time. I'd have to be on guard even more than I was now. I didn't know how I could survive alone, but carrying along Anna too…

I sighed. "Fine. Do you have a car?" The look he gave me basically said _What do you think?_ I ran my hands through my hair, pushing my bangs back.

"Well I don't know how you plan to keep up with me then-" I started.

"I do." Gabe stood up, interrupting me. "It's nothing fancy, but it seats five. Assuming you'll let me and some more come?" The look on his face was smug, like he knew he was going to get his way. Which he was. Though I didn't like it, it was the best way to survive.

In about 45 minutes, we had a plan. Gabe, Achan, Ben, and another guy named Sven and his twin brother Kristoff.

They would all drive behind me in Gabe's car, and me and Anna in my truck. I trusted these guys, but I didn't want them in my truck with Anna. Anna had never really been around guys, she'd probably try to marry the first one she met.

We were rendezvousing at the edge of town at 5:50 a.m. We were leaving at 6 a.m., no later.

As soon as all the plans were finalized, I sprinted back home. I had my gun out, and busted open the door. I checked the apartment, and once it was all clear, I said "Olaf says all clear."

Anna crawled out with the gun swinging once again carelessly from her hand. I spent the next 30 minutes whispering the plan to her, and the next 2 hours going over basic self-defense techniques. I let her practice on me, but I didn't dare demonstrate on her. The crude somewhat human like drawing on the wall was my victim.

We spent the rest of the day packing up everything we were going to take with us. We didn't take it to the truck yet; we risked getting caught if we did that. Even though the announcement said all crime wouldn't be tolerated, I didn't want to press my luck. We had some nice stuff, and people were desperate.

Instead we were just going to carry it all with us in the morning, when no one was awake. Or at least, when it was dark. Everyone was probably going to be awake. Who could sleep after hearing that?

But at least I knew _we'd_ be safe tonight. I don't think anyone would risk the threat of immediate death by trying to kill us.

By the time we had finished packing, it was pretty late. We went to bed, and for once, I fell fast asleep. Maybe it was because tomorrow I knew I could gun it down that strange path as far and fast away from here from possible. And onto new dangers.

I woke up to knocking on the front door. Knock… knock knock knock… knock knock… knock.

Achan's code. Still, I brought my gun and was ready to shoot. I opened the door, and let him inside. He insisted on coming with us at least to the rendezvous point. Besides, I asked him to wake me at 5:30, since I didn't have a clock, and I wasn't going to make him walk all the way there after doing that.

I gently woke Anna up, and we got ready quickly. I put my eyeliner on before making sure it was safely stowed in my backpack.

Once we were ready, we got together all of our stuff. Achan helped us carry the rest, so we wouldn't have to make two trips. I did a double check all around to make sure we had everything. Then I remembered something.

"Oh, wait, hold on. I forgot something. You guys meet me at the warehouse. I'll be fine!" I aimed the last part at Anna, who gave me a worried glance. But she followed Achan, gripping his arm, despite the fact they just met. But I trusted Achan… enough. But I guess I had to now.

I slipped into our room one last time, and pushed our bed aside. I pried the plywood off the wall, and reached my arm in. I felt around for a second, until I felt it. The soft satin gloves.

I pulled them out, and admired them for a second. They were a gift from my dad. They were just simple little white gloves, much too small for my hands now. He got them for me because of how much I complained about my hands. They started to get calloused and looked like ugly man hands to me.

So he got me them to hide them; to make me feel prettier I guess. It worked, it helped hide them. Made me feel better. Now they didn't serve much purpose other than a physical piece from that memory… and they secretly made me feel a little better. I wished they still fit.

I reached in one more time, until I found it. I pulled out a picture. It was taken before my parents died, and before the accident. Anna and I were hugging in the picture, just two happy children with no care in the world, and my parents sat next to us. My mother had her dark hair down, probably one of the only times I had seen her with her hair down was when we took this picture. She always wore it up, but she looked beautiful regardless. She was looking at Anna and me fondly. My father had his eyes shut from laughing so hard, his strawberry blonde hair perfectly placed.

I'm not really sure how I turned out whiteish-blonde. Sometimes I wish I had brown hair, because if I did I would look almost exactly like my mom.

I could barely see the picture in the dark, but I had spent many hours studying its worn surface that I didn't need to see it to know what it looked like. I slipped the gloves in my bag along with the picture.

I stood up and started to turn, when I saw a pair of shoes. I followed the shoes slowly, up towards their body, and finally to the pair of arms holding a gun. That was pointed (of course) right at me.

I jerked my head up to look at their face, but it was perfectly in the shadows (conveniently). But I could tell it was a man, at least.

"Hands up, Elsa." I didn't need to see his face now, because I recognized the voice. Nick. It was Nick. I worked with him. And he was here, about to shoot me.

"What are you doing Nick?" But I put my hands up, obediently.

"Don't even think of pulling something on me. I'll shoot. I'll do it." His voice sounded tight, strained. It didn't sound like his usually joking, as-care-free-as-you-can-be-in-a-world-like-this voice.

"Nick, why are you going to shoot me?" I tried to keep my voice calm and polite (as polite as you can be at gunpoint), but I was getting a little angry. Part of the anger was directed at me. I was so busy reminiscing that I left the door unlocked, and let someone sneak up on me.

"You heard the announcement. We have to survive. Three years. And I can't if you're still around." His voice was getting panicky, although I didn't see why. He was the one with the gun. Then again, he probably knew how easily I could take it away. It was all kind of redundant, I guess.

"I wouldn't come after you Nick, so I don't really see why you're worried? Come on, put the gun down, and come with us." I tried charming him like I'd seen some girls do, but it really wasn't my area of expertise. Flirting was a foreign language to me, and that was kind of saying something.

"No!" He shouted it, loudly. "He… he paid me. He knew that eventually you would take him out! And then come after me!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" I was getting a little tired of this to be honest, so I took a step towards him.

"Stop!" He yelled, and pulled the trigger. I twisted out of the way, but not fast enough. The bullet hit, but it didn't stop me. I rolled back upright and was about to beat the crap out of him, when he I heard something like glass shattering, and then Nick started shaking, like he was having a seizure.

I backed up, pulling out my own gun, but it was over. He stopped shaking, in fact, he stopped moving. As quickly as it happened, it stopped. I checked my wound and found that the bullet only grazed me, thank goodness. It would have really complicated things if the bullet was lodged in my arm.

I inched towards Nick; my gun still aimed at him, and pushed him over with the toe of my boot. I waited another few seconds, and watched his chest. It didn't move.

I crept up towards the window, and got more than a little freaked out. I saw a prefect hole, about half an inch in diameter, and little pieces of glass sprinkled below it. I backed up, and went back over to Nick.

I flipped him back over, and there, on the back of his neck, was a little dart. I pulled it out, and put it in the front pocket of my back pack to study later.

My heart was beating, and I chocked back a sob. So that's what the immediate death was. He tried to kill me, and somehow the government knew, and sent someone to kill him-

_Or they sent him to kill you._ I thought. My hand clutched at the mattress, so hard it turned white. He said they paid him, to kill me. What if the government paid him… to kill me…?

I wouldn't put it past them. They killed my parents. They figured out my dad talked, and killed him in a boating "accident."

When the government official came to tell me and Anna the bad news, I knew right away it wasn't an accident. Because ships holding (important) government figures disappeared mysteriously all the time. Especially with the technology we have today.

When the official talked to me in private about the living conditions, I assured him I could take care of Anna just fine. I had been 18 after all.

As he started to leave, he leaned in close and whispered, "It's gonna get way harder, kid. Especially for you."

He pulled away and kept walking, and left without even glancing back. I thought his message related to being without parents and that since I was watching over Anna it'd be extra hard.

But maybe… this is what he meant. It didn't match up with the "he" part. Maybe a certain government official wanted to kill me? Maybe even the one that gave me the news of my parents death.

I wanted to sit there and just cry as long as I wanted to, without a care in the world. But I realized that I'd been gone a long time. They were probably worried. I brushed a tear off my face, took a deep breath, and grabbed my stuff and sprinted out the door.

**Sooo now the story's really about to start! More adventure and action and all that! **

**Review, favorite, whatever(: just let me know what yall think I love hearing it!**

**Love yall(:**


	6. Going South

Thankfully the warehouse was right behind the apartment. Only a few lights were on, which gave it an eerie feeling. The shadows of the guards were stretched out pretty far, making it look as if long, skinny creatures surrounded the warehouse.

I sprinted to the back, nodded at the guards on the way, where Achan was pacing and Anna was sitting by the front tire, clutching Olaf. She looked like a little girl, with her hair split into two braids, and that pink scarf wrapped around her neck. The lighting highlighted her scar, making it glow almost.

"Where have you been? You said it would be a moment- you're bleeding." He was staring at my arm, like he was trying to piece it all together. I watched as it clicked. "That's a bullet wound. You got shot."

"You got WHAT?" Anna got up and yelled. I wasn't sure if it was worry for me and scared that there could be a shooter out there.

"In the truck. Anna, front seat." They didn't move at first, so I said in my most threatening voice, "Now." That did the trick. Achan started mumbling about my arm, and Anna kept looking over her shoulder.

I climbed the ladder into my truck, and swung in. Once everyone was in, I started the engine, turned on all the security systems, and locked the doors.

The force field hummed to life, and the lasers and machine guns were ready to fire; I could hear all the clicking and adjusting from underneath the truck. Like I said before, it was a high tech vehicle. And it fit me like a glove.

After all the security and weapons were ready, the truck itself was silent. And once we were out driving, people really wouldn't see us. The windows were tinted and non-reflective. The truck itself was pretty huge, but completely black, like someone just dipped it in bulletproof black paint.

On the outside it looked pretty normal, just a pitch black truck. But it was built like a tank. The whole exterior was reinforced and sturdy. Weapons were all over, mini missiles, lasers and machine guns, even nets could shoot out. I'm pretty hesitant to use them, since I have limited stock and I don't know where to buy them. But the force field was nice, it ran as long as the truck had gas. The whole truck weighed around 45-50 tons. Sturdy and safe.

Perks of your dad working for the government. Ya know, besides getting killed by them.

But speaking of gas, that worried me. This thing wasn't exactly the most economical, and gas was expensive and hard to come by. We had used a lot of it during the wars and all that, so it wasn't exactly found at every corner. But the announcement had said that all vehicles could run without refueling…so I guess we'd just have to wait and see.

But considering I didn't really have a choice, I just hit the pedal. Achan had opened one of the side doors to the warehouse, and the only sound heard outside was the gravel crunching between the tires.

I was out of practice, but my driving was decent, even in the dark. Good enough for me to press it to 130 mph.

I filled Achan and Anna in as I drove. I left out the part about getting the gloves and the picture, I just said I was doing a last check. I also didn't tell them about my suspicions about who sent Nick. But other than that I kept everything else the same.

"Wow, Nick. I… I was really close to him." Achan sounded pretty upset, so I didn't say anything. Just let him grieve in silence. Besides, I wouldn't know what to say anyways. This wasn't my area of expertise.

Now, if he wanted revenge, _that_ I could help him out with just fine.

Thankfully the truck had a clock, and we made it to the rendezvous point at 5:49. Anna was already asleep in the front seat, but Achan and I were alert. I turned off the gas, but kept all the defenses on.

At 5:52, Gabe rolled up with everyone else. Achan and I slipped out of the truck, guns out with the safeties of. Everyone piled out of Gabe's little van looking thing.

Gabe gave my truck an appreciative once over and whistled. "So I _can't_ drive with you?" He whined.

I gave a small laugh and shook my head. "No. But it you drive close enough behind me, the force field might shield you if there's, you know, trouble."

His eyes got wide. "There's a freakin _force field_ on this thing. Damn Elsa, how did you get this truck?" His question thankfully seemed rhetorical, because he walked past me to get a closer look at my truck. I didn't feel like telling my life story to anyone.

"Don't touch it! The force fields on!" I yelled over my shoulder to him.

"So, what would the force field do?" The guy who I assumed was either Sven or Kristoff, since they were the only ones I didn't recognize, walked up to me.

"Well, I haven't seen a person touch it yet. But I know if you shoot anything at it it'll vaporize it." I said it a little proudly. I mean, I loved my truck. It was pretty badass. Who wouldn't be proud to show it off? And plus all the guys seemed to appreciate it.

Behind me I heard Ben say excitedly, "It's like a black beauty."

"Hm." I thought about that for a second. It sounded like a pretty good name.

I turned to Kristoff-and/or-Sven and asked, "So, who are you?" It came out a little rude, but I didn't care. If they were going to be sticking around for up to three years, they should at least get used to me sooner than later.

He gave a nervous laugh and said, "Sven. Kristoff's over there, gawking at your truck. He loves cars," he added.

I gave Sven a once over. He seemed pretty built, and he was around 5'8, maybe 5'9. Around average. He had light brown hair, and some dark eyebrows. He also had a pretty big nose, which somehow fit with his narrow face. He kind of looked like a reindeer, in a weird way.

"Can you fight?" I questioned. I studied him. He looked more like a runner than someone who fought, but hey, I couldn't judge. I didn't look so impressive at first glance.

"Uh, a little. I'm pretty quick, if that helps?" He said it like a question. I sighed.

"We'll work on it later." I called Kristoff over and went over the same routine.

Kristoff was tall. Probably around 6'2. He had this blonde mop on his head, and also a big nose, but in a different way than Sven.

Kristoff wasn't really a fighter either, but he worked in some mines, so he had potential strength wise.

It was probably 6 by the time I finished questioning them. They weren't brothers, just boys orphaned at a young age that found each other. Later they met this huge group (Kristoff's exact words were, "They're kind of like a cult, but they're not a cult. They're… love experts.") that took them in and they were now like family. But at 16 they left to find work, met Gabe and moved in with him. They still visited their adopted family, and they were really close from what I gathered.

They also had a weird tendency to speak for each other. When I would ask Sven a question, Kristoff would answer for him, and vice versa.

"Okay, we need to go." I called, getting everyone's attention. "I was thinking going as far south as we can first, since we're on that half of the country. Then we'll go north if we can't find anything."

Sven raised his hand, then put it down, looking a little embarrassed. "Uh, what exactly are we looking for?"

I sighed. This was the tricky part. I didn't even know if there was anything to look for. "I'm not sure," I admitted. "All I know is that I'm not going to sit here for three years. Constantly moving is just strategically better."

"Plus," Ben added in, "we could find more people. The bigger the group the better, right?"

"Uhh…" I started, but then I heard the door to my truck slam. Anna walked out, rubbing her eyes.

"Soooo, it's 6:07. Elsa, why haven't we left yet? Knowing you we would've left before 6 than after 6." She ended that in a yawn, and when she opened her eyes she looked surprised when she saw everyone. "Oh, hi." She said with a small wave.

"Oh yeah, guys, this is my little sister, Anna. Anna, this is Ben, Gabe, Kristoff, Sven, and you know Achan." I pointed to each guy as I said their name. Anna waved again and Kristoff stepped forward- a little too eagerly -with his hand out.

I stepped in and grabbed his arm, twisting it backwards, making him do this little flip thing and landing on his back.

"_Don't_ touch her." I said threateningly.

"Elsa," Anna nagged. Everyone besides Kristoff, Anna, and I were laughing, but I allowed myself a smirk. I was a good 5'7 and nowhere near as built as Kristoff was, but yet I managed to take him down in a good 5 seconds, not even. It never got old.

"How the hell did you do that?" Kristoff asked while getting up, rubbing his back with one hand and his neck with the other.

"I told you we'll work on this later. Okay, seriously though, Anna was right. Everyone get in your vehicle. I'll lead. If I want to stop, I'll put my taillights on. Blinkers for their designated purpose." And with that, I spun on my heel and jogged to my truck, not wasting anymore time.

I heard Sven mutter, "Is she always that…" He trailed off, and I heard Achan finish with, "Straightforward?"

"I was going to say icy, but straightforward works too." That was the last I heard before I slammed the door to my truck shut.

I wasn't sure how to take that. So I just stored it away. Maybe that could fuel my anger later.

Once everyone was in, I gently pressed the pedal, and turned onto the strange path that all too familiar. I made sure I was going south (my truck has this thing called a GPS, I'm not sure what it stood for, but it tells me where I'm at and all that), and gave it a little more gas.

Once I was on the path and saw that Gabe was behind me, I did what I've always wanted to do.

I just gunned it.

**Hey, guess what? … Jack's coming in the next chapter (; **

**Hope yall liked this chapter! Review, favorite, follow, whatever! But thank you guys! Love yall!(:**


	7. I'm an Idiot in Houston

It was almost as great as I had imagined it to be. The only thing that would make it better was if I could roll down the windows and let my hair down. But since that was a safety issue, I didn't. The force field wouldn't cover the empty space of the open windows, so an accurate shooter could easily shoot Anna or me.

_Everything goes back to watching your back,_ I thought. Everything I did ultimately had to go back to a single question: _Can/Will this put you in danger? _I was paranoid all day, every day. Well isn't that a nice way to live.

Initially I was going 300 mph, which wasn't even as fast as this truck could go, but since Gabe had an average truck that only went 225, I would have lost him. So I had to slow down.

We drove for about half the day before Anna complained about going to the bathroom. I put my taillights on and slowed down to a stop.

"Anna has to use the restroom." I said as I crawled out of my truck, and took the opportunity to stretch. Everyone else had the same thought as I did apparently, because everyone else climbed out and started stretching.

"Just say-" Sven started. "That Anna has to pee, like a regular person." Kristoff finished. They did that so flawlessly, like they practiced exactly what to say in the truck on the way here. Sven stopped and Kristoff just picked it up without missing a beat.

It was going to take me a while to get used to that. But all I did was raise an eyebrow at them.

"Anyways," I said, turning my attention to Gabe. "My GPS says there's a city coming up. It's called Houston? Anyways, we can pick up more supplies there too. The only food we have are some canned beans and vegetables."

Sven perked up at vegetables. "Do you have carrots?" When Sven said carrots, Kristoff perked up.

_Good luck getting used to them, Elsa_. I sighed.

Gabe looked at me and leaned in and whispered, "I had to live with them." As if he read my thoughts. I suppressed a smile at that.

Then Achan walked up. "How far is… Houston? Is that what it's called?" I nodded, and then answered, "About 200 miles. I could be there in about 25 minutes…"

"Hey! Don't hate on my truck." Gabe scowled. "Come on, let's go to Husten." He turned, and Achan followed him.

"No man, I think it's _Houston_." Achan corrected.

"Who cares?!" He yelled back.

We made it to Houston in around an hour, give or take. We stopped a little ways before the actual city (which still looked very much intact), and I parked my truck next to these trees and turned on the stealth mode on the truck, which made it blend in with its surroundings. Not completely invisible, but at a first's glance you wouldn't notice it. You'd have to really study it to find that it was there.

Then we all piled in Gabe's truck. If I drove mine in, people would probably get suspicious. But in Gabe's truck, we fit right in. Besides all being crammed in.

"Man, your truck has _everything._" Kristoff gave a longing glace towards the trees where my truck was.

"And it even has a cup holder!" Anna added in.

We drove through the city, which was packed. People were everywhere. Some dressed nicely, some dressed casual, some jogging through the streets. I didn't see anyone carrying weapons. I didn't even see any homeless people. And there wasn't blood on any of the walls of the alleys.

Cars flowed through the streets; parked on the side of the road (Kristoff told me that that's what they were called. And they were paved, that's why they were smooth.). Even when my dad worked in the government and we were living nicely, we didn't have roads, and people weren't so bold. It was strange. I was more than a bit out of my element.

It was the opposite of where we all lived. There people stayed indoors. The streets were dangerous. Here, it seemed like no one stayed in their home during the day.

We found a grocery store (which had a sign telling exactly what it was and no bodyguards), and parked on the side of the street as close as we could get to it.

"Well, okay, Sven, Kristoff, Gabe, stay in here. Achan, take Anna to a bathroom somewhere, and don't let anything happen to her." I saw Anna roll her eyes from my peripheral vision, but it wasn't as dramatic as usual.

"Ben and I will go in," I finished, drawing three 20 dollar bills out of the bag that everyone had dumped their money in. I hadn't counted how much we had, but it seemed like we a pretty good amount. Hopefully that would be enough to get a good amount of food.

Ben, Achan, Anna and I got out of the very crowded truck, Ben and Achan tripping over each other's feet and almost falling, while Anna and I landed gracefully.

_Men are so clumsy_, I thought, with a mental eye roll. Anna stifled a giggle, but put on a neutral expression when they both looked at us.

Achan and Anna went into this bookstore in search of a bathroom that was two stores down from the grocery store. Ben and I walked farther along the sidewalk to the grocery store.

It was a good temperature for winter outside, pretty warm in fact. But then again, cold didn't bother me, so I wasn't a reliable source for temperature. But we were also farther south, so who knew.

I took the lead and we walked to the store. Inside, people were going about their business as if there was no threat. They left their shopping carts unguarded (with their money in them!) while they wandered over to browse a shelf.

It was small things like that that just baffled me. I get that some cities were safer and had lower crime rates that others, but I mean really. Did they not hear the announcement?

I walked right up to the first person I saw. It was an old man, probably in his sixties.

"Excuse me sir, but did you hear a radio announcement? About an experiment?"

He turned, startled, then calmed down when he saw it was just a girl. A 5'7, petite girl that couldn't do anything to him. I wanted to punch him, but then I realized that I literally made up that whole thing in my head. He probably just was startled since no one was behind him a moment ago. He was pretty old, anyways. It looked like anything would startle him.

I just needed to calm down. Get rid of this paranoia. I took a deep breath as he answered.

"Oh, the three year experiment? Oh, yes. Well, I watched it on the T.V. instead of listening to it on the radio. But same thing. Kind of." He said it pleasantly, like it was a good thing.

"Well," I began in a curiously polite tone. "Aren't you scared then? He said all crime was legal." I put one of my hands on my hip, and turned my head slightly to the side.

"Oh, well, people are… friendly? People don't rob here, unlike where you're probably from. I bet it's not as big a deal as you think, dear." He patted my shoulder and gave me what I guessed was a reassuring smile, then scurried off with his basket.

Ben walked up as the old man walked away.

"He doesn't seem worried. Like at all." I said without looking at Ben.

"Yeah, that was weird. People don't seem the least bit worried here… Maybe it's because they're not used to being worried?" He said it more of a question.

We both looked around, observing. He was right, no one seemed worried. Well, except for that old man I freaked out. But he didn't count.

_Are we overreacting then? Maybe it's not as bad as I thought?..._ I started rethinking everything I'd done in the last 36 or so hours. My brain was so scrambled from taking so much information in, I wasn't really sure what to do. Except buy some food and regroup.

"Well, if they aren't, we probably don't have to be. For now." I looked around the store, looking at how neatly the aisles were labeled. "Here, you go look around over there for cereal or something that will keep well. I'll look over here."

We split up; since we decided that we were in no immediate threat. I picked a random aisle and walked down it, not really paying attention. My brain was still on overload.

Which resulted in me running right into one of the store attendants.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention." I jumped back, and ran my hands through my bangs, as I looked up.

What I saw made the strangest thing happen. I caught my breath and my heart skipped a beat. I looked up to a boy taller than me, with hair like mine. Except his seemed to be… silver. I wondered what motivated him to dye his hair like that. It looked good though.

He had a pale complexion, like mine. And his eyes. They were blue, like mine also, but they were so different. It seemed so intimate, when I looked straight into his eyes. Like I was intruding on something private. I had never experienced that before.

I observed all this in a few seconds. _Snap out of it. What's wrong with you_? My thoughts interrupted our intense 3 second eye contact.

I shook my head, and sized him up. He was about 6 feet, a bit on the skinny side. I could take him, easy.

He was wearing this blue hoodie, but it was inside out. I wondered why.

The whole time he was staring at me, as if I just came out of the picture on one of the cereal boxes.

"No, it's my fault." He smirked, but his eyes weren't in it. They kept studying me, as if trying to place me.

I looked at his chest and read his name tag. "Uh, ok, Jack." It came out all choppy, as if each word were it's own sentence.

"Can I help you find anything, Elsa?" He murmured, still staring at me.

I looked up to meet his eyes, and gave him a hard stare. "Excuse me?"

"Uh," he started, and snapped out of whatever daze he was in quickly. "I-I uh… I heard your friend call you that! He was talking kind of loud. My bad." He put his hands up in a joking surrender, with this crooked smile.

He seemed like a totally different guy now. Like a different persona. But this side of him seemed more natural. Better than the brooding, mysterious guy earlier. Though that one wasn't bad…

I shook my head as an attempt to clear my thoughts.

"Well, I'm just looking for food." I said stupidly.

"Well, you're off to a good start. We sell food." He smirked again, and this time his eyes did too. He gestured with his arms to the food, and leaned against the shelf.

_Why are you being such an idiot_? I asked myself. I took a breath.

"I'm looking for nonperishable food that's good for traveling. That better?" I asked, with a bit of attitude, and a small smile. "But not canned food. And not carrots." I threw in.

He chuckled, and it was a nice laugh. It had a hint of deviousness behind it, as if he was used to laughing at people, instead of with them. Like he pulled a lot of pranks.

I was good at reading body language, and I was pretty sure I had him accurately pegged as a class clown kind of guy.

"Yeah, better. Here, follow me." He started to turn to lead me, when there was an explosion somewhere to the side of us, and one the entire walls blew in.

Jack immediately turned and threw himself on top of me, shielding me from the blast. Thankfully, it was the wall farthest from us, so only a few boxes and a part of the ceiling fell. At least, thankfully for us.

Screaming and a child crying followed the explosion.

Jack was up on his feet quick, and turned to help me up. But I did a kick up as soon as he was off of me and was on my feet almost as quickly as he was.

"Thanks," I said, referring to him shielding me.

All he did was give me an appreciative once over, and said, "Nice," with a nod.

I rolled my eyes, but then remembered I wasn't here alone.

"Ben!" I yelled, totally forgetting that maybe I shouldn't yell. Someone cause the explosion. Or something. I shouldn't be yelling and letting them know exactly where I was at.

_Nice going, Elsa. You're officially an idiot in Houston._

My realization was a little late though. A guy in a black leather jacket with bright red hair and a dark complexion (it was a strangely beautiful contrast) literally slid and blocked the exit of the aisle.

I turned and was about to run the other way, but there wasn't one. A few shelves had fallen over along with part of the ceiling, blocking the exit.

I could have climbed them pretty easy, but that would require me to turn my back, and I wasn't thrilled with the idea of turning my back to this guy. Whoever he was, he obviously wasn't here to shop.

"Where ya going, sweetheart?" I turned my head back to focus my gaze on him, and saw that he was smirking. It wasn't anywhere as cute as Jack's was.

_Seriously, focus Elsa_. I took a deep breath. Jack still stood there, looking from me to the guy blocking the entrance. Obviously he wasn't going to be much help.

Around the same time whoever this guy asked me that, I heard a few other guys in the other aisles saying something along the lines of, "And where do you think you're going?" It was creepy how they all said it close together.

But it told me that this guy wasn't alone. And that they were blocking everyone in.

I hoped Ben was doing okay.

Then I thought of Anna. What if there were more of these guys, and they were where Anna was. She wasn't very far away from here. That made me furious, and I turned it on. I kicked it into gear, just like I had learned to do and perfected.

"Move." I said simply, but defiantly not in a ladylike voice.

The guy looked at me like I just grew horns. "Excuse me?! What did you say?" He sounded offended, but it was fake. It was like an act. Like a cat playing with a mouse before he ate it.

But in this case, the mouse was more deadly than you'd think. And the cat was just pissing the mouse off.

"I said, move. It's not a hard word to grasp. It means to get out of my way." I needed to stop having so much attitude, but I couldn't help it. Everything happened so fast. Running into Jack, me being an idiot, the walls exploding, and then this idiot blocking me in. It all happened in minutes, and my brain was already a little fried. I was not in the mood to deal with this.

He took a step towards me, and I heard more screaming. I guessed that the other guys took a step in too. Did they choreograph all of this?

"That's not gonna happen, sweetie. Okay? Now be a good little girl and put your hands behind your back. Or I'll kill you slowly and painfully." He turned his head and spit, then turned and smiled at me like he hadn't just threatened me.

_Be a good little girl?!_ Oh, that pissed me off to no end.

I turned my head too, but instead of spitting I said, "Jack, just stay back."

I didn't see his response, because I quickly grabbed a can off the shelf and flung it hard and fast at the guy's head. He didn't even have time to duck, I did all of that so quick.

It hit his temple, and knocked him out cold. He talked pretty big for a guy that just got knocked out by a can. It might have even killed him, but I didn't care. I ran past him, kicking his head while I ran past just for good measure, and slid out of the aisle.

Ben ran out too, at the same time I did.

"What the hell just happened?!" I asked.

"I don't know! Some like Indian guy with really red hair asked me where I was going. Ya know, after the wall exploded and all that. Then he took a step towards me then just collapsed. Just like that." He said that whole thing really fast, and snapped his fingers for emphasis. I stared at him for a moment, about to explain how the _same_ thing just happened to me.

But then, I froze. "Don't move," I instructed him.

"Elsa?" I heard him say, but I kept running. I ran past all the aisles, and glanced down each one as I pasted them.

All of them had a dark skinned man with bright red hair and a leather jacket, passed out.

I walked back over to the guy I hit, and picked up his left arm. I pulled the sleeve back, and there it was.

A tattoo starting at the middle of his forearm and ending at his wrist that read: **766537GEDO.**

The tattoo that belonged to experiments. And apparently this one could be in more than one place at once, or something along those lines. Or there were multiple versions of him. Or something like that. Who knew?

If I needed any more conformation that the 3 year experiment was real, here it was. An experiment was loose in the city, wreaking havoc. Who knew how many more there were. And not just in Houston. On the entire continent.

Experiments with much worse abilities than this one. One's that probably weren't as stupid as this one, too.

I turned to the old man I talked to earlier. He was shaking, and a younger lady was holding up so he wouldn't fall over.

"It's a big deal." I said. Then I turned back to Ben. "Come on Ben, we need to go." I headed to one of the aisles and grabbed a bunch of food, and went over to Jack.

"Here." I said, holding the money out to him. It was way more than the amount of food I was actually getting, but I just thought of it as contribution to fix the now blown in wall.

"No." He said, fixing those eyes on me. "I want something else."

I sighed, and turned and threw the food at Ben. As he caught it I said, "Take the food to the truck, tell them what happened. I'll be there in a second."

He didn't move at first, so I yelled, "Go!" That did the trick. But I wasn't sure why I made him go. Maybe I just wanted to talk to Jack alone. The store had cleared out by now, everyone had scrambled out the big hole in the wall to run to their homes I guess. It was just me and Jack.

I turned back to him, but he was suppressing a laugh.

"What?" I asked him, with my hands on my hips.

"Nothing. Just, does everyone do what you tell them to?" He wasn't laughing anymore, but he was giving me that crooked smile of his.

"Yes." I said simply.

"Oh, well excuse me, Your Highness." He put his arms out and bowed really low, still with that crooked smile on his face. He never broke eye contact throughout the bow, and besides that, the bow was actually very good. Almost exactly like how my dad used to do it.

_Don't think about him. Conceal, don't feel._ I turned my thoughts back to the matter at hand.

I stared at him, trying to look unamused, but I couldn't help the smile that tugged at my lips.

"So you _can_ smile!" He said in an overly dramatic voice, getting up from his bow.

I just rolled my eyes, pushing my bangs back with my hand.

"What do you want?" I asked him, getting back to the point.

He dropped the smile, and looked at me intently. "Take me with you."

"You can't be serious." I said as I stared back at him in disbelief.

He crossed his arms, and said, "I'm not letting you leave until you say I can go."

I opened my mouth to tell him no, he absolutely couldn't go, that he was crazy for thinking that he could, but it came out a little differently than that.

"Fine." I stood for a second, and then realized what I just said. My eyes widened. "Wait, no, you can't-"

"Too late." He smirked, then went over behind the counter, and pulled a backpack from behind it.

I just looked at the backpack, and then asked, "Were you planning on coming with us?"

"I-uh-no. I didn't know you were, uh, coming. It's an emergency pack, in case something like this happened and I had to leave quick." He shrugged the backpack on, and went over to the nearest shelf and picked up a bag of chips and said, "So, we should get moving, huh?"

I shook my head and sighed. I uncrossed my arms and turned around and motioned for him to follow, thinking of ways to explain this to everyone else.

**Here ya go! It was a long one! Hopefully yall like it!(: **

**And thank yall for the reviews! They really help, and yall are too nice!**

**But thank you again! Love yall!(:**


	8. On the Road

Achan was pissed, to say the least.

His eyes had hardened the minute he spotted Jack following me, and stayed like that up until now.

We were on the outskirts of Houston, and Achan and I were talking by my truck, while the rest of the group was talking to Jack over by Ben's truck.

I was trying to keep the conversation down to a low whisper, but Achan kept yell-whispering. His weird yell-whispering along with the highly over exaggerated hand gestures kept drawing the rest of the group's attention over to us, which was the opposite of my intentions.

To be honest I had kind of zoned out of the conversation. He kept listing new ways Jack could sabotage this "mission."

"We don't know who he is, or what his motives are. What if he tries to kill us in our sleep?! Or steals all of our stuff and makes a quick getaway!"

In my mind I crossed each excuse of the list. It was highly doubtful he could do any of that stuff; Jack was outnumbered and out skilled. But other than that I wasn't paying attention.

My gaze had trailed past Achan and over to Jack. His silver hair glinted in the sunlight, and I couldn't hear what he was saying (thanks to Achan's "whisper"), but he made everyone burst out laughing.

"I just don't understand why you're all of a sudden being so irresponsible." Achan's voice cut into my thoughts, and got my attention. I cut my eyes back to him.

"Irresponsible? It was _your_ idea to bring a group along; I was just going to take Anna and go. You and Ben and Gabe decided that the more people there were the better! So why is adding one more person all of a sudden a bad idea?!" He opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off. "Ah, nope! Don't want to hear it! It was a rhetorical question. Now, if you have a problem with my decisions, leave!" I whipped my arm and pointed at nowhere in particular.

I stood there, fuming. I was only about 5'7, but I felt like I was 8 feet tall. I opened my mouth to say something else, but then realized how quiet it was.

I looked over Achan's shoulder to see everyone staring at us. When I stared at them, they all turned away and tried to pretend that they weren't looking though. Anna actually put her hand on her chin as if she were lost in thought. It would have been funny if I wasn't made at Achan.

I shook my head and returned to the conversation.

"Okay, I'm sorry. But Jack's coming, like it or not." I crossed my arms, signaling that this conversation was over, and walked past him, so that I would have the last word.

In all honesty, Achan was right. It was a rash, illogical decision that could hurt us later on. But I seriously doubted it. It was almost like I was meant to run into Jack.

I didn't know why I got so mad about it though. He was being (somewhat) logical; Jack could be untrustworthy. But the alternative option was sending Jack away, and I couldn't do that. I don't know why, I just know that I couldn't.

As I walked over, I realized that Anna wasn't with the group anymore.

"Where's Anna?" I asked, my voice getting higher and my pace increasing. "She was just here!"

"Calm down Elsa, I'm right here!" I looked around, but Anna wasn't there.

"Up!" I heard her squeal. I looked up, and sure enough, there was Anna. Attempting to climb a tree.

"Anna, what are you doing up there?" I asked while shaking my head, but smiling a little. She was so innocent, so childlike. A person like her shouldn't be in a world like this.

"I'm climbing! The air seems a bit thin up here." Kristoff walked over then, and looked between Anna and the tree, as if judging the distance.

"You're like, 6 feet in the air." He said.

"Anna, come on, we're going." I turned around, and pointed at Jack. "You're in the truck with me."

Achan started to protest, but I held my hand up, ending it before it even began. I gave him a hard stare.

"So," I addressed to everyone, "do we want to keep going south, or turn and head back up north?"

"South's pretty bad territory. Lot of gangs, and they get into a lot of fights." Jack said, flicking a leaf of his shoulder. He said it casually, as if it were nothing out of the ordinary. I wondered where he lived before Houston.

"Well, as fun as that sounds, I think we should go north." Gabe added in.

"Catch!" We all turned as Anna flung herself off the tree, into Kristoff. Thankfully, he was paying attention, and caught her.

"Thanks! That was like a crazy trust exercise!" She patted his chest, then hopped down. He stared after her, until he caught me shooting daggers at him. He coughed and looked away, blushing.

"Uh, anyways," Gabe continued, as Anna walked up nonchalantly. "North is where the GEDO and the government's HQ are located at, and maybe the closer we get to them the more answers we'll get? I don't know, it just sounds safer than heading down into gang wars," he finished with a shrug.

"No, good idea. Answers sound good." I assured him.

"Yeah, but what kind of answers?" Sven asked.

"Answers to anything! Find out if anyone knows more about experiments, or the supposed experiment we're in. Maybe meet more people. I said it before, the bigger the group, the safer we are." Gabe stated.

"Strength in numbers," Ben said with a nod of approval.

At that I retreated into my thoughts as the rest of them talked. I had a crazy daydream of just barging into the government headquarters and demanding to know what happened to my parents, and why. Completely taking the place by storm with this huge army. Getting even. Getting revenge.

But it was just a crazy fantasy… right?

"Okay, so north it is?" Achan was looking at me, waiting for my final say so.

"Yes. North it is. Let's drive until it starts getting dark, then find somewhere to set up for the night." I walked over to my truck, still lost in my daydream.

The more I thought about it, the better it sounded. It was the closure I had been wanting since the day my parents died. Maybe if I could get enough people together, I could do it.

I could get revenge, and maybe even end this stupid experiment.

Because I knew that what happened in the grocery store was probably the first and easiest part of this whole experiment.

While I was scheming and daydreaming in my mind, physically I had gotten in my truck and turned it on, and was sitting very still while clutching the wheel.

I noticed what I was doing and let go, then gave a sideways glance at Jack, who had gotten in the front seat.

"Wait, Anna-" I turned around to see if she wanted the front, but somehow she was already knocked out in the back, with an empty bag of chips on the floor.

"You're cleaning that up." I muttered under my breath as I turned back to the front.

"What?" Jack asked.

I only sighed in response. I checked to make sure all the security was on. I checked the fuel gauge for about the thirtieth time today, but the needle hadn't moved from F the entire time we had driven, and I had put a lot of miles on the truck today.

I had my doubts, but somehow the scientists pulled it off. I wasn't sure how, but I was sure that I probably didn't want to know.

Once it was all up and running, I put my foot on the gas and pressed down slowly, easing the truck out of the shade and headed towards the road.

Beside me, Jack whistled. "Woooow, this is a _nice_ truck. How much did this cost? Man, you must have been rich!" He kept looking around excitedly, and I had to keep swatting his hand away from the control panel.

"Do you _want_ to shoot Gabe and everyone else behind us into the sky?! Cause that's what that button will do!" I yelled after about the 20th time I had to hit his hand away.

"Well I don't know about Gabe, but I wouldn't mind doing that to Achan." He turned around and looked in the back window, and waved to their truck.

I turned back onto the highway (Jack taught me that name, though I'm not sure how he knew) and started going north.

"What's wrong with Achan?" I asked, turning to look at him.

"Keep your eyes on the road, your majesty. And are you kidding? For one, he obviously doesn't like me. And two, the guy's head over heels for you. Honestly, it's getting old, and I've known him for less than an hour." He pointed to a button. "What's that do?"

"Tell you what. You get out and stand in front of my truck and I'll show you what it does." I said, my hands gripping the wheel tighter.

"Is it a visual kind of thing?" He asked, apparently not getting where I was going with it, and I sighed.

"It's the button to the machine gun. The button below it locks it on target and shoots - no don't press it!" I hit him fast in his ulnar nerve with my knuckle without taking my eyes off the road, and his arm jerked back.

"Ow! What was that for?" I gave him an exasperated look as he rubbed his elbow.

"Hey, Jack. I have a question for you." I turned back and focused my eyes on the road.

"…Yeah?" He sounded a little wary.

I smirked at that, and asked, "Do you know the quiet game?"

"Fine, fine. Okay." He sighed. "But can I ask something first?"

"Technically you already did, but yes, on one condition. Stop touching my truck."

"Deal. But ok, what's the deal with you and him?"

I cocked my head. "What's the deal? There is no deal."

"But he wants there to be a deal?"

"I thought it was one question!" I sighed, and checked the rearview mirror to make sure Gabe was still in range of the force field. "I- I guess he wants there to be one? I've had to refuse him repeatedly, but I don't know if that-"

Jack cracked up at that, and for some reason my face went red. "What?" I demanded.

"Your highness, you are blind. Do you know anything about guys?" He turned in his seat to look at me.

"Well, I know you're incredibly obnoxious, and you're a guy."

"First off, I'm a man," he corrected me, and I smiled. "And second, he likes you. A _lot_."

"Well, isn't that nice to know." But it came out more as a question. But I've said it once and I'll say it again. The language of love is foreign to me. Of all the languages I know, that is definitely not one.

"You could do better." I could see that he was still looking at me in my peripheral vision.

"Excuse me?" But I didn't mean it to be rude. I was more taken aback. I looked at him quickly, and he was smiling, but not his up-to-no-good smile.

"Just saying." He put his hands up in surrender, and then stretched and put his hands behind his head, and leaned back.

I wasn't sure what to say exactly, so I just asked, "Why do you call me that?"

"What? Your majesty? Or your highness? Cause really it's just a spur of the moment pick between those two."

I gave him a look, and he gave me an innocent smile.

"Really?" I asked.

"Well, yeah. It is a spur of the moment. Or just whatever word more I like at that time. But to answer your question, it's cause everyone treats you like one."

I scoffed. "No they don't."

"Ha. Achan practically asked for your permission to go north, and no argues with you when you tell them what to do. It's like you're the queen. What you say goes." He finished.

I was about to protest, but it was kind of true. I realized just how bossy I was, and how no one seemed to have a problem with it. And not even just today, but my whole life.

"Well that's what you think…" I said quietly, but it was halfhearted. I really just wanted the last word. Jack seemed to realize that, because he just laughed quietly and turned to look out the window.

I looked at the back seat real quick, and saw Anna still fast asleep. I didn't know how she did that. I was incredibly envious of her for it.

We drove for a while like that, in silence. Jack would occasionally look over, and I kept going over what he said earlier in my head: _You could do better._

I didn't know if it meant anything, or suggested anything, so I just settled on it was a blank observations. No biased opinion in there.

_Yeah, cause that's the language of love. Cold facts and observations,_ I thought to myself, and smiled a little on the outside.

After an hour or so of silence and thoughts (with Anna not waking up once), Jack turned to me and asked, "So where do you go? When you shut down I mean."

He said it softly, so it didn't really disrupt the silence. But I flinched anyways, like he had yelled it.

"When I shut down?"

"Yeah. Like, I haven't known you that long, but it's like every time you start to get emotions, you shut down. You're back to that robot version."

"You're getting awfully personal for not knowing me that long," I said, with a hard edge to my voice. I tried to turning it back to him.

"No, personal would be, 'Tell me about your parents.'" I drew in a sharp breath, and he quickly apologized.

"Sorry, I'm… I'm so sorry. I wasn't-I wasn't asking you-"

I cut him off. "I know, that was me. Just… an overreaction."

He didn't say anything to that, and we sat in quiet for a few moments.

I analyzed his apology. He sounded so sincere, like he knew what happened to them. But of course he didn't. He probably just assumed something happened. It was common to be an orphan nowadays.

"I know what it's like though…" He trailed off, and stared straight ahead.

I paused, unsure if I should go on. After a moment, I eventually said, "I'm sorry."

I looked over at him, but he was already looking at me. I drew in a quiet, sharp breath. He looked like he was about to cry. His eyes were glassy, and they were open, but not just physically. They looked like they were ready to pour out his past all of his secrets along with his tears.

I looked away, but only because I had to drive and focus on the road. But I still pictured his eyes. They were beautiful, and that was in no way due to their physical form.

"I don't even remember them," he whispered. His voice was chocked up and emotional, and I knew somewhat how he felt. It was hard.

He turned and looked out the window, and his body language read, _I'm not talking anymore._

I obliged, because I remembered how many times I had wanted to do that when people tried consoling me about my parents.

I pitied him though. As much as he probably didn't want it. At least I had memories of my parents. I had fragments of comforting hugs and warm smiles to help when I needed them. He had nothing.

We drove for about 45 more minutes before it started to get dark. It was 5:27 p.m., and I put on my taillights and blinker. The GPS said we were close to Oklahoma City.

That was a strange word. Oklahoma. I wonder why the people that picked these names picked them sometimes.

As I pulled off of the highway, I slowed down and looked around. The road was torn up in several places, and there was debris everywhere. It was just piles and piles of buildings exploded and torn apart, their rubble scattered everywhere, as far as the eye could see. There were a few buildings still standing, but they looked as if they could crumble at any second.

I was thankful my tires were near impenetrable, but I wasn't sure about Gabe's. I parked, and turned the truck off.

"I really am sorry." I whispered. I heard the doors slam open and closed from Gabe's truck.

Jack turned to look at me. "I am too." His eyes were on me, but far away, as if he were somewhere else.

I unlocked the doors and turned the security systems and everything off for now. I sighed.

I supposed that I would have to get out and discuss with everyone else the shifts and sleep schedule and arrangement and all of that.

I opened the door reluctantly. A part of me wanted to stay in my truck forever, talking to Jack, drifting in and out of comfortable silence.

It was strange. He annoyed me so much, but yet I wanted to keep talking to him. It was incredibly illogical and completely against my nature. But I couldn't help it. I'd know him for less than six hours, and it was like I'd known him for a while.

I climbed out of my truck and walked slowly over to where everyone was grouping up.

I remembered how he said I shut down, and I realized he did the same thing in a different way. I did it with my emotions, but he did it with his eyes.

I guess everyone had their own way of disappearing for a while.

**Thank you everyone! And I know I'm kinda updating chapters quickly, but this is a fun story to write! Anyways, thank yall again! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!(: Love yall!(:**


	9. Heart to Heart

**Hey guys! Sorry it's been a few days!I kinda had a little writers block thing, but then I went to see Maleficent and it helped for some reason lol. btw, it was a really good movie! I recommend seeing it if you havent already! lol. but anyways, here's the next chapter!**

We set up a makeshift camp pretty fast. We just cleared the rubble into a circle with precarious walls, thanks to the pileup of all the clutter.

We set out blankets and made a campfire, and for all an outsider would have thought it could have just been a bunch of teens on a road trip.

We heated the canned food up with a pot Gabe found in the back of his truck, and everyone ate quickly and silently. Even while cooking and cleaning up there was almost zero noise.

I'm pretty sure everyone had the illogical thought that if we made too much noise while eating that someone- or something –could find us.

After we were done eating, I offered to take first watch. Or, more like I ordered everyone to sleep while I watched. Gabe offered to take shift with me on the other side of camp.

Achan, and even Ben, kept offering to take watch while everyone fell right asleep. They said I had had a long day and needed to sleep. But I refused to let them, saying I wasn't tired. I really wasn't. I felt fine.

I told everyone that we'd work on fighting tomorrow. I had planned to save that for a few days, maybe even a few weeks after being on the road. But since I got attacked the first day of this wonderful experiment, I decided maybe sooner would be better rather than later to teach.

As everyone fell asleep, I climbed one of the highest piles debris that was as close to the camp as possible that gave me a good view, and settled on top.

I had my bow slung across my lap, and my quiver full on my back. I seriously doubted that anything was going to attack us, but then again, I thought that at the grocery store. Plus, I would never leave myself unprotected and unprepared (besides all the knives and the loaded pistol in my boot, but those were always there).

The tip of the sun was still showing when I was settled on my little mountain, and I watched as it quickly disappeared below the horizon.

I sat for a while, watching and studying the stars. The stars pulled me into a distant memory of a friend I once had when I was younger. I couldn't remember her name, but I did remember her hair. It was like her signature trademark. It was golden and loooong; her mother never let her cut it. Her mother was really protective; she would never let her leave the house, except for school. And the only reason I went over to _her_ house was because her mother was a government official or something along with my dad, and he had to make a house call.

Anyways, since she never really left the house, and she was really artistic, she told me she spent almost all of her time painting. Her entire room was completely covered in paintings. It was amazing.

Even her ceiling was covered; in fact, that's what made me remember her. She charted and painted the stars and sun and moon on her ceiling. It just went to show how much time she spent in her room.

She tried explaining it all to me, but I didn't really remember much. I only remembered the few key facts my dad taught me, like how the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

But now, I was wishing I could remember them. Or could remember her. I wondered what happed to her. She never came to school one day, and I never saw her since.

I realized I had lain down to get a better view at the stars. Surprisingly, the pile of rubble wasn't that uncomfortable.

"Pst," a voice hissed to my right, and I was sitting up with an arrow notched and had it aimed before I even realized who it was.

"Jack!" I tried to whisper, but it came out rather loud. I sighed and pulled the arrow out and placed it back in my quiver. Jack was haphazardly climbing up the side of the mountain of debris, and reached my arm out to pull him up. I wanted to make sure he was on top of the pile so I could push him down.

"I could have killed you." I said matter-of-factly, but I was a little shaken. I could have killed him. Like I almost killed Anna. I got a bad flashback, and flinched away from him with my arm still out.

"Hey," he said reaching out and grabbing my arm. "It's fine, I'm good, no worries." He pulled himself up, but didn't let go of my arm.

I just looked at him, then looked down to where he was touching me, then back at him, until he got the message.

He looked between where his hand was on my arm and my facial expression, and sighed with a very dramatic eye roll, but he took his hand off.

"I forgot, you have a touch phobia thing." He shuffled some of the rubble around and then wiggled into it, leaning back and putting his hands behind his head. I observed him, frowning slightly.

"What do you think you're doing?" I asked him.

"Getting comfortable?" He said it in one of those questions that had an implied, "_Duh_," at the end.

"How about _no_. Go back down to camp and get comfortable." I turned my back to him and studied the area.

He did this weird little somersault thing so that he was somewhat in front of me. I tried to ignore him, but he tried to grab my bow.

"What's this?" He reached out, but I grabbed his wrist and twisted, making him cry out. I put my hand over his mouth so he wouldn't yell.

"Don't. Touch." I whispered threateningly, but he just smiled with my hand still over his mouth. "What?" I asked, drawing my hand away from him, and my bow too for good measure.

"You're cute when you're mad." He wiggled his eyebrows while he said it, making me smile despite my best efforts not to.

"You're an idiot if you don't know what a bow is," was my response to that. I couldn't tell if he was serious or not, but it didn't matter. I didn't want the conversation going there anyways.

He only smiled, and looked at the horizon.

"You should really go back, though. Get some sleep. Big day tomorrow." I said as I also turned my head back to the horizon.

"Nah, I'd rather talk to you. See what makes Elsa, Elsa."

"If you really think we're going to have some heart-to-heart conversation then you don't know me at all."

"Come on, I just want to know a few things about you."

I turned to him, and said, "I barely open up to my sister, why would I open up to a guy I just met?"

"Why don't you open up to her?" He asked, turning to me too.

I threw my hands up in frustration while saying, "You completely missed the point of that."

"No, I got the point, I just chose to ignore it." He said simply. "I just want to get to know you better."

I wrinkled my nose, a little confused as to why. But then I got an idea for a question that I thought would throw him off.

"Well, let's start with you then. How many girls have you been with?" I asked boldly.

That made him hesitate. He drew back, tilting his head in confusion.

"Where'd that come from, your highness?"

"Well, you act like girls just give you whatever you ask for. Like just because you asked nicely, I'm going to just open up," I said pointedly, confident in my plan to sway him from this conversation. "Plus, you wanted to know if there was anything going on between Achan and me."

"Fair point," he said, not even hesitating. "But to answer your question, no one. No girls. Nada. Zilch. Zero."

That actually surprised me. For one, I thought he wouldn't want to answer. And two, he was funny, and seemed like he could be very charming when he wanted, and he wasn't bad to look at…

_Stop it,_ I ordered myself.

"What?" I asked, disbelief clear in my voice.

"Yupp. It's true." Jack said with a small smirk, seeming pleased that I thought so different. He turned to me and looked straight into my eyes.

"You're lying." I accused.

"Your majesty, not everything everyone tells you is a lie," he said while studying my eyes. "Plus, like I said before, it's not that hard to open up a little, like I said before."

I was going to respond with a, 'Well, for me it is.'

But it came out like, "Fine."

I seemed to do that a lot with him. I needed to stop.

He looked at me expectantly, and I stared back. He sighed, realizing that I wasn't going to talk without being encouraged.

"What's your favorite color?" He asked.

"Oh, now you've stepped over the line," but my smile betrayed me.

He laughed as I answered, "Blue."

"Blue?"

"Yeah, like the color of ice. That see through, almost white kind of blue. Why?"

"I just pegged you for a red or black kind of girl." He said, giving me a once over.

I just raised an eyebrow and pulled on my hoodie, motioning at the blue.

"Ah, makes sense." He studied my face, then asked, "So why is there purple?" He asked as he motioned to his eyes. I realized he was talking about my eyeliner.

I laughed, and said a little hesitantly, "Well, uh, it's kind of stupid. It just reminds me of when my, uh, parents were… still around." I ended it in a whisper, feeling as though saying it to loud would shatter the comfort of the makeup.

Jack's eyes softened, and he slowly brought his hand up to my eyes. To both his and my surprise, I didn't flinch away, or twist his arm in yet another warning.

He brushed his thumb lightly across the outer corner of my eye while his palm hovered above my cheek. It made my face tingle in a weird way.

He was studying my eyes without really looking at me in that way he did, so I took a brief moment to study him. But instead I noticed a scar on the tip of his thumb out of the corner of my eye.

I grabbed his hand quick, but gently, and pulled it to where I could see it better. He startled a little, but let me take his hand. I noticed the scars on each of his fingertips, shaped like little X's. When he realized what I was looking at, he began to pull back.

I opened my mouth to ask, but a noise to my left got my attention. I had my arrow notched and aimed in the direction of the noise. It made me forgot about the scars. But for some reason, it made me remember something else. Nick.

"Jack," I whispered, still looking in the direction of the noise, which was just a newspaper that had tumbled down a hill of rubble from the wind.

"Hmm?" He said, head down and his hands- protectively, I noticed, –in his lap.

"I need to know that I can really trust you." I whispered fiercely. I didn't know where this newfound drive was, but I really wanted to trust him, to confide in him about Nick, and whoever the man was. I didn't know why I wanted to with _him_ either. But I did.

He looked in me square in the eye this time, in this world and not wherever else he disappeared to. Looking right at me. "Elsa, I know you don't really know me, but I _promise_ you can trust me."

And that was all it took. For now.

Usually I would wait a few years, but I felt like the situation we were all in, and just something inside me was urging me to talk to him. I would make him gain my trust, and even then I would be a little distant with him. But I had so many questions I needed to confide in with someone else, and for some reason I felt like he had an answer.

I told Jack about what happened with Nick, and what he said about someone sending him. I hadn't brought it up again with Achan, but it had been in the back of mind the whole time since. It was bothering me more than it maybe should have. Maybe.

Jack listened to my quick retelling very well. He seemed like a good listener.

"Gabe said something about answers. Well, those are the answers I want. I want to know who 'he' is." My fists were clenched, and adrenaline started to flow through me. Just talking about it made me worked up.

_Conceal, don't feel. Don't let it show. Shut it off Elsa._ I talked to myself in my mind, and shut it off. Stored the anger/adrenaline away.

Jack watched me the few seconds it took to calm down, but apparently he learned his lesson not to pry as much. He just pressed his lips together for a moment, and then spoke.

"Elsa, we'll figure it out. Promise." There was his promise again. "It is strange… But we can figure it out tomorrow or something too. We have three years. And I feel like answers will present themselves at the right moment."

He leaned back, and left it at that. It felt ominous and a little creepy. Like he knew more than he was letting on.

I leaned back to, so I was lying on my back, and watched the stars, listening intently.

Jack and I made some sort of silent agreement that the conversation was over and also that it was okay for him to sit with me.

I was mulling this over, how something seemed strange about him, how I seemed to have this strange sense of comfort after just barely knowing him, when I yawned.

Jack looked over and smirked. "So you are human after all. Go to sleep, your highness. I'll cover your shift."

I was going to say something along the lines of, "Don't call me that," but another yawn came out.

I laughed inwardly. It was like an inside joke with myself about how I never said what I intended to around Jack.

I fell asleep thinking about how it felt like I've known Jack forever.

**Hope yall liked it! Thank you guys also for the encouragement! Review, follow, whatever! And some of yall had some interesting ideas, and they might actually become apart of the story, so thank yall for those!(:**


	10. The Mysterious Fire

I dreamt I was falling. Falling and tumbling down a mountain of ruble. I woke up to find that, for the first time, my dream was a reality.

As soon as I was conscience enough to learn that I was in fact falling, I tumbled around so that I was going feet first down and on my back. I was almost at the bottom after I twisted around, and was about to hit the ground when I hit a bump or something large and flew about 10 feet from when I expected.

I landed on my stomach very ungracefully and very painfully, but quickly got up. I clutched my stomach, and was just glad that I didn't land on one of my daggers.

As I was standing, it occurred to me that I had fallen off the rubble pile, and I looked up and discovered why. There was a towering wall of fire surrounding us. It looked like it was in a circle completely around us, but about forty feet out. Still, it surrounded us.

There was probably an explosion too, because trash was everywhere and on fire even though the fire was still a ways out.

The mountain I was sitting on previously had completely crumbled, and although it was a mess before, it was even worse now. Before it was in piles at least, but now the trash was everywhere. And not just the pile I was on. Debris was scattered every which way. It looked as though a bomb hit, which might have happened. The trail that I cleared to lead me back to camp was gone, too.

The orange of the fire was all I could see in my peripheral vision, and the smoke I was inhaling kept making me cough. It looked like a warzone. It looked like my old home.

_What the hell is going on?_ I thought to myself as I took this all in in a second. I was very confused. The fire wall. The possible explosion. The trash everywhere. Falling. It was a lot to take in after just waking up.

Instead of panicking though, I took a deep breath and looked back to where my pile was. I found my bow about twenty feet to my left and… Jack. He wasn't moving.

Seeing Jack laying there snapped me out of whatever daze I was in and reminded me of the camp and everyone else. I sprinted over to Jack without thinking, planning to get my bow and Jack, and then to find everyone else.

As I ran to him, I saw that he was lying face down, and I couldn't tell if he was breathing or not. I tried to swallow down the panic that started to rise.

Before I got to him though, when I was about 10 feet from him, I heard something whistle past my ear. Then instant pain. My left arm flared up like it was on fire.

I snapped my head to my arm, and saw an arrow sticking out of it. It had pale wood with white feathers neatly lined at the end, and an iron tip that burned as my arms kept pounding while I ran.

I slid over to Jack on my knees and ripped the arrow out, which caused a small cry from me. But I stifled it quick and threw the arrow to the side, and rolled Jack over.

His forehead was bleeding, but he was still breathing and his heart was pounding when I checked, though somewhat fast.

I hoisted him up (even though he was skinny, he weighted a lot more than I expected!), and slung his arm around my shoulder, and my other arm around his waist. My arm was killing me, and blood had soaked part of my left sleeve, but I bit the inside of my cheek and supported Jack.

_Conceal, don't feel. Don't let it show._

I stumbled over to my bow and nudged the button that made it retract and kicked it up with my foot. I caught it as it flew up, and I tucked it in the waistband of my pants.

Doing that while supporting Jack wasn't easy, and my arm didn't help anything, but I just pushed through it anyways. Feeling sorry and complaining wasn't going to do anything.

I cast once last glance toward the arrow I threw to the side. It was low-tech; nothing like the arrows I had. It looked extremely old fashioned, but it was beautiful. I looked it over one more time, then turned my back to it.

I held Jack's wrist with the hand that wasn't supporting him, and shifted him so I had a better grip on him. Every time I moved my arm it burned. The added pressure from Jack and my hoodie rubbing on it definitely didn't help.

I straightened as much as I could with him practically slung over my shoulder and marched back to where I thought the camp was. I couldn't tell since all the debris had moved, and everything seemed to be on fire. Thank God gasoline was a rarity.

Trash flew everywhere, and the roar of the fire was blocked almost all sound out. It was like getting caught in a tornado, with the added heat of being in a furnace.

I was sweating and trash kept blowing in my face while I walked. And all the while, in the back of my mind I was still trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

I tripped over garbage while trying to find the camp. When I finally found it, I found everyone except Achan and Gabe huddled in the middle.

All that happened in about two minutes, maybe two and a half. But it seemed dragged out; it felt like hours since I had woken up.

I stumbled in relief down to everyone else. They looked fine, despite all the smoke in the air and the fire closing in around us.

I set Jack down, a little rough maybe, but I didn't care, and noticed that the fire was in a somewhat perfect ring around us. And it had closed in fast.

Sven came over and looked at Jack, taking the responsibility of looking over him for now without saying a word.

It used to be a good distance from that mountain I had taken watch on, which was about 20 feet from camp, give or take. But now, the fire had completely closed around the camp. And was still closing in. There was no break in the fire, and I felt like jumping was the only option out. Or put it out.

But I didn't even know how the hell it started, and it was way too big to put it out, and we didn't have anything to put it out with either.

"Elsa, you're bleeding!" Ben called, which brought my attention back to my arm, and the pain flared up again. It had kind of subdued since I wasn't focusing on it, but now it was back. It was bearable though.

Ben didn't even hesitate. He ripped the hem of his shirt off, and wrapped it tightly around my arm, which I was thankful for. I didn't think I could do it very well to myself, and with one arm too.

He did it quickly and skillfully, even tying it up efficiently. I gave him a small smile to show my thanks.

"What happened?" I yelled while he was finishing up, hoping he had an answer.

To be honest, I was getting a little panicky. The fire was slowly closing in, and Achan and Gabe were gone, and Jack was bleeding, and a damn arrow flew out of nowhere and-

An arrow flew out of nowhere. That just hit me. Why didn't I register that before?

"I don't know! We woke up to this loud sound, and this fire started! It literally just grew from the ground into a circle! And then Achan went to look for you and Gabe!" Ben was yelling over the roar of the fire, which was closer.

We all got closer together without realizing it, trying to put as much distance between the wall and us.

The fire was easily 25 feet tall, probably higher. I didn't know how thick it was, but it didn't really matter.

"We're going to have to jump through it!" I yelled after a few drug out seconds.

Everyone had their hands over their ears, but they still heard me, and looked at me like I was crazy.

"Are you serious?!" Kristoff yelled back.

"What other option do we have?!" I yelled, trying to swallow the panic down. I was getting really scared. And it wasn't necessarily because the wall was moving in. It was because of the fire.

I had always been a bit afraid of it. Even though I needed it to cook and keep Anna warm, it always scared me. So hot. So out of control. I always felt like it had it out for me.

Plus, I was a winter and all things cold kind of girl. Fire went against all of that.

It was stupid, but nevertheless, it was one of my deepest fears. And it wasn't like I had that many.

"Jump out on three!" I yelled, as the fire was almost touching us.

I started counting loudly, and we all got ready to jump. Sven had picked up Jack and was sort of carrying him, and Kristoff held Anna's hand, and Ben stood looking determined.

I yelled "Jump!" at the same time that someone else yelled, "Enough!" Which made us all pause.

It was female and an unfamiliar voice, but right after it yelled with me, the fire disappeared. It shrank down, and literally disappeared. The only evidence that it was there were the scorch marks on all the trash, that was now swept up and blowing everywhere.

But I didn't notice all those things. All I noticed were the three figures standing right in front of us.

They were three girls, and they all looked around my age. I examined them quickly.

The one to my left had dark skin (like the guy with the red hair in Houston), and black hair thrown into the thickest ponytail I had ever seen. Her hands were out in front of her, with her palms were facing downward, and she was breathing hard. She wore this tight blue outfit that was off the shoulder.

The one in the middle had hair redder and crazier than Anna's in the morning. It was curly and wild and had gravity-defying volume. She wore a tight body suit that was a navy blue color, and had a belt with a full quiver attached. And she had a bow with an arrow ready to shoot aimed at us.

An arrow like the one that had been shot into my arm.

The last one was the strangest one to me. She had an interesting hairstyle, with knives sticking out of her head, kind of like that statue of justice thing or whatever had before it was bombed in New York. She had what looked like a bra and high-waisted pants made out of armor.

But what really caught my attention was that the last girl was holding Achan with a knife to his throat, and Gabe was knocked out and bleeding at her feet.

**Hope yall liked this chapter! And the story so far! Lol XD Anyways, review! Feedback, ideas, anything!(: **

**And thank yall, everyone!(: Love you guys!**


	11. Let it Fly

**Okay sorry its been a while ! I was traveling and just got back and I start work again soon so idk I'm a busy girl now lol. But anyways I'm trying to stay on top of this story! Try not to get too mad at the time gaps in between chapters.. XD**

I couldn't take my eyes off of Achan and Gabe. I had no idea what happened, but these girls were obviously responsible, and I was tired, and my left arm burned, and I was starting to get very pissed.

"What are ya doing here?" The red headed girl in the middle asked. I cut my eyes to her. She spoke with a heavy accent. Her bow was still aimed at us, but more specifically, at me.

I put my hands up slowly in a kind of surrender, but I didn't take the scowl off my face.

"What have you done to my friends?" I answered her question with another one. My tone wasn't very friendly. I wasn't really interested in small talk, all I wanted to do was get the boys away from those girls and get the hell out of here.

"You all trespassed, and this one here," she shook her elbow at Gabe, her hands still preoccupied in holding and aiming the bow at me, "tried to attack Attina."

"And after I took him out, this one tried to get at Merida, and I was not gonna have that." The one with the knives sticking out of her hair spoke. I presumed that she was Attina, and that name rang a bell for some reason. I couldn't place it though, so I returned my attention back to the pressing matters at hand.

I took a sideways glance at the knife still being held to Achan's throat, and I couldn't tell if he was unconscious or not. As long as he and Gabe were still breathing, I wouldn't be too worried. I took a breath and addressed the red head, who seemed to be the leader from what I was picking up on.

"Look, I'm sure they were just freaked out by the… " I trailed off, not sure how to explain it. I had a feeling that these girls were somehow involved. But I just took a breath and continued. "Fire. And I'm sorry if we trespassed. Just give us our friends and we'll leave." I didn't think we were trespassing, I was just saying that to get them to let us go. I was sure that they were experiments, and probably crazy, and we did not need to get mixed up in any of those anymore.

I took an unsure step towards them; with my palm out, trying to show that we didn't mean any harm.

Big mistake. The red-headed one took that as a sign of aggression, and let the arrow fly.

Time slowed down. The arrow slowed down, and everyone and everything around me slowed down, but I seemed to be going at the same "normal" pace as always. My right hand, which was the one I had extended, snapped up and grabbed the arrow while it was still flying at me in slow motion. In mid-flight. With it inches from my face. I grabbed it.

It all happened in less than a second, but felt like minutes to me. I tried to mask my own surprise, without much luck. My eyes, still crossed from looking at the tip of the arrow, widened, and I heard a few gasps, and Anna screamed.

Everything was back to normal pace, and I was a little freaked out by the fact that everything had gone slow motion for a second.

I slowly lowered the arrow, and narrowed my eyes. The brief shock of what I just did wore off and fury started to replace it. I cut my eyes to the red head that shot the arrow. She looked incredulous and shocked. She looked the way I felt moments ago.

_How dare _they_ shoot at _me_?!_ I thought, the rage driving me now. I felt myself start to shake. I took another step towards them, but this time pulled my bow out of the waistband of my pants. I clicked the button on the top of it and what looked like a simple little black rod extended fully and quickly into a high tech bow.

I took a few more steps and notched the arrow that was shot at me and aimed it at the red head. I stopped when I was as close as I could get to her without the arrow I had notched touching her face. It was dangerously close to the space between her eyes, and if I let the arrow fly, she'd be dead in a second.

They all took a step back when I notched the arrow, except for the red head, and their eyes widened. I knew my face was twisted into some hideous expression, and the fury controlling me almost made my fingers let the arrow go. To let it bury itself into her head. To let it fly. To just let it go.

I'm sure much of my bravado was half catching the arrow, the other half was the anger I always pushed back until I needed it. My vision was tinted red around the edges, which I would have been alarmed about if not otherwise occupied and distracted.

"Now what?" I growled at the red head, her curls seemingly floating in the breeze. The sun had just started to rise, and the seconds that the red head and I's eyes locked seemed like hours. She was shaking her head.

The red head's eyes crossed, focusing on the bow, and then back to me. They were almost pleading. She seemed to have forgotten that it was three against one. Them against me. But I had the feeling that she knew that they were the ones that was truly outnumbered.

It had been fairly silent for a minute or two after I charged them, until I heard a moan behind me.

"Elsa, don't shoot," I heard a feeble voice behind me say, before turning into a coughing fit.

That voice returned me to my senses. The change was almost instant. My contorted expression returned to normal, and my eyes weren't slits. The red was gone, and I loosened my grip on the bow. My knuckles were white from gripping the bow so hard, and I realized just how out of control I was. I looked from my hands to the girls in front of me.

The hands I almost let kill someone. Like I had almost killed Anna.

_Elsa, _don't_ shoot_, was the only thought echoing in my head, with the same voice repeating it.

I took a shaky step backwards, never taking my eyes off the red head. I wondered what she was thinking.

But I didn't need to wonder; her expression said it all. Her face only confirmed my fear. I was a monster. To her. To everyone. To myself.

But I swallowed that down and turned my attention to the voice that brought me back.

"Jack," I breathed, remembering how hurt he was. Maybe if I could focus on helping him, I could forget about how I snapped and almost killed someone. I turned to face him, realizing that that meant turning my back on someone I had almost killed.

Big mistake.

"Get her, Jaz." It was almost an inaudible whisper, but I heard it, and the sound of fire crackling and whooshing up.

I saw Anna and Jack and everyone else's horrified expression after I turned to face them, but their eyes were trained on something behind me.

I whipped back around, realizing my mistake too late, only to see fire. The last thing I saw was red, red, red, red, before it went pitch black.

**Anyone else think of I See Fire by Ed Sheeran at those last few lines? Probably just me. Anyways, not a very eventful chapter, but you're gonna have a lot of information thrown at you in the next few, so that kinda evens it out. Anyways, sorry its been so long again! And I'm going to try to get the next one up in the next few days! Love yall! (:**


	12. Experiment City

**Ok I solemnly swear I will not let this story die. My right hand is on my Bible or however you swear or whatever. But no in all seriousness there might be some time gaps between chapters cause work and all that keeps me busy but I promise this story won't die. It's too much fun writing and I love hearing what yall have to say! And thank you so much more reviewers would be great! I love feedback and all that good stuff. Now anyways, enough rambling, here's the next chapter(:**

I woke up on the ground, and someone was holding my hand. I heard a voice that sounded a little fuzzy, and when I tried to move my head it pounded with a raging headache. And it was hot. So, so, so hot.

"Elsa?" I heard someone whisper softly close to my ear. I realized that it was Jack, and I could feel his breath on my neck, and it made me sort of half smile for some reason.

He squeezed my hand, and I felt myself squeezing back.

I opened my eyes slowly to see Jack's face smiling right above me. I blinked hard a couple of times against the harsh sunlight, and groggily tried to get up.

Seeing me struggle, Jack started to help. "No," I croaked out, pushing his hands away. But speaking made me cough, and I realized how dry my throat was.

"Water," I choked out. Jack immediately nodded and ran off somewhere. As soon as he disappeared from sight, I took the opportunity to survey my surroundings.

Mostly I just saw the bright sunlight, since my eyes weren't accustomed to I yet, it blocked out most of my vision, so I just closed my eyes and sat back. But I could still feel, and it was hot. I was sweating profusely, and really wondered why it was this hot in the middle of winter. I didn't like heat.

I heard voices though, and opened my eyes and accustomed myself to the sunlight… and saw people.

The sun and the heat wasn't enough to keep everyone inside apparently. There were people everywhere. And I didn't recognize any of them. Mostly because most of them didn't even look human.

A quick glance around me and I figured out I was surrounded completely by experiments. The anatomy on most of them was too strange and completely un-human like for them not to be experiments. That was the only explanation. I was at some city or camp for experiments.

I scooted myself backwards in panic, thankfully not drawing any attention. But hitting the wall did frighten me a little and I automatically shook my left arm- forgetting that it was hurt- to release the dagger I had hidden in my sleeve.

But the thing was... no dagger came out. And I felt no pain.

I did a quick pat down on myself and felt myself start to panic once again. All my weapons were gone. Even the gun and small dagger that I had completely concealed in my boots.

And I realized something else. My left arm was healed. Completely fine. Like I had never been punctured with an arrow.

I lifted the sleeve of my hoodie up to see that there wasn't even a mark where the arrow hit. Not even a bruise. Nothing.

But there were still blood stains on my hoodie. The only proof I had been hit in the first place. Just like there had been last night. Or this morning. Or… a few days ago?

I couldn't tell. It was too hot, and I was all alone in an experiment camp.

I leaned back on the wall with my eyes wide open. Maybe I had been drugged. That would explain a lot of things at the moment, one being the giant guy that had half of his body covered in fur that just walked past me.

After I had convinced myself I was drugged, I just sat back and sweat furiously. After a few minutes, I took my hoodie off, revealing my white tank top.

I was just looking around at the strange people walking by, in a sort of daze, studying the city/camp thing. It looked like an abandoned city in pretty good condition. All the buildings were made out of red brick, and attached to each other and seemed to be laid out in rings. It almost seemed like an organized labyrinth. The center had a huge building, and rings of buildings surrounded it, the buildings getting smaller the farther out the ring was.

There were breaks in the rings that had a road that led directly to the huge building in the center, and I was leaning against the building that was only attached to one other building; the one I leaned against was right next to the path directly to the big building.

All the buildings and streets were taken care of nicely; it was like a war never happened here. Which actually might be the case, depending on wherever the hell I am.

I was just lost in my observation about the city (which I found rather fascinating; the city I used to live in was just chaos compared to this), when a thought hit me.

What if I _was_ in an experiment camp… and I had been captured.

That's why I was healed… and why I had no weapons… and no one else I knew was with me…

_Jack_, I thought. _Jack was here. But where did he go?!_ That jolted me out of my daze and I started to fear the worst. What if they experimented on him? On Anna?!

I got up at that thought, though a little shakily. I used the wall for support, and tied my hoodie around my waist. I took a few unsteady steps, got my balance, and cleared my head.

I still had small headache, but it had gone down a lot, and I really needed water, but I just pushed that away.

_Conceal, don't feel. You need to find Anna and Jack._ I used that to fuel me, and soon enough my thirst and headache were at the back of my mind, totally forgotten about.

I walked in the shadows of the buildings, partly to escape the heat, partly to avoid contact with the experiments. And maybe the doctors or guards that could possibly be here.

I stuck close to the walls, and ran around the buildings in the giant circle that they were in; getting a little more frantic each time I passed a road leading to the center.

I passed a number of experiments, all ranging drastically in their physical appearances. I saw one person who looked as normal as could be, except for these faint purple stripes running up and down his arms, and big, blue, cat-like eyes. I watched him as I walked along the shadows, intrigued, until I saw him completely disappear, except for his smile and his eyes. That made me turn around and more desperate to find Jack and the others and get out of there.

I was about 10 minutes into sneaking around in the shadows looking for anyone I recognized until I got caught.

"Hey, she's up!" I heard a male voice call, followed by a lot of shushes, and a few hisses.

I didn't even turn around to see who said it. I didn't even turn around to see if they were talking about me.

I bolted from the shadows. I went straight to the path to the center, determined to follow the path and make it to the center building. I wouldn't even consider escaping without Jack and Anna and everyone else.

I expected someone to come and chase after me, or someone to try and stop me, or even someone to try and shoot at me, but nothing happened.

The experiments I did pass just backed up to get out of my way. Like they were scared of me. Which scared _me_ a little. I was ready to fight, but they obviously weren't. Maybe it was like that saying, _They're more scared of you than you are of them._

I didn't dwell on it though. I also didn't consider the possibilities that could happen once I made it to the middle. I just ran on.

I made it to the center in a few minutes by sprinting my hardest, and made it out of breath, drenched in sweat, and about to pass out.

_Don't feel, Elsa, just climb the stairs. Do it for Anna. Do it for Jack._ I was at the foot of the stairs leading up to the giant building ahead of me. I took a deep breath and then sprinted up those too.

I made it to the top and went straight to the giant double doors and shoved them open. I didn't pause for breath, or to look at how simple yet beautiful the building was.

I shoved the doors open and marched inside. The inside was nothing like you'd expect it to be. You'd think the inside would be decorated with the finest materials, somewhere royalty would preside in. But it wasn't.

It was filled with books. Shelves were everywhere, in total disarray and chaos, no system to dictate where the shelves were placed. Books were haphazardly stacked on the floor, since the shelves were already flooded.

For a second, all my adrenaline disappeared and I was transported back in time. I forgot all about my mission to find everyone and escape, and completely ignored the shadowy figures in front of me. I just went back to a time when I was still scared to be in the same room as anyone in my family, for fear of hurting them somehow. Back then, books were all I had.

I stole them from wherever I could, I borrowed them, I did whatever I could to get my hands on them. They were rare, since the government destroyed as many as they could so long ago. They were treasures.

I just wanted to dive into the pile of books in front of me and forget everything. And just read.

But then, that second passed, and my adrenaline roared back up and my heart pumped furiously and I focused my gaze on the five people in front of me. They were all turned towards me except for one.

The only one I focused on though was the red head. I grabbed a book closest to me since that was the only weapon I had and marched closer towards them and held the book up.

None of them moved, but I saw a little doubt and fear in the red head's eyes. I hoped that she was remembering the last time.

I was prepared to throw it, and just go from there. I hadn't really planned this out, which was very unlike me, but I was pissed off and confused and a little desperate. I was just going to wing it.

I started to swing my arm to throw the book when the one person facing away from me turned around and threw her hands up.

"Elsa stop!" She called, and the sound of her voice made me drop the book before she was even turned around all the way.

I just saw her hair, long and golden and so familiar, and I felt tears starting to come on. And everything just came back to me once I saw her eyes.

"Rapunzel?" I asked.

She gave me this shy little smile, and said, "Long time no see, Elsa. Welcome to Experiment City."

**So I had an idea, but I'm not sure about it? I made a blog on tumblr, but mostly to talk to you guys, and I love to draw, and I was thinking of sharing some character designs I had done when I first started this story. I made the blog mainly for my fanfiction, and to talk to the people that read my stories and jelsa of course, but I haven't really kept up with it in that respect. So idk if any of yall would be interested (this would be for all my stories, present and yet to come). Just an idea, give me your thoughts?**

**Anyways, hope yall liked this chapter! I'm working, and that's going to keep me sort of busy, so that's really the only reason I won't be on top of the story! But I PROMISE it won't die out! Love yall!(:**

**Tumblr is **the-coldneverbotheredus** btw! In case any of yall are on it.(:**


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